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There is a growing interest and obligations to bring the results of scientific research closer to society. In this sense, the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO, CSIC) has acquired in recent years an institutional commitment with the scientific dissemination, carrying out some projects on this topic. The objective of these projects is to visualize and value their research and results in different formats increasing the scientific culture of society that demand and financed most of public research. In the present work four successful initiatives or projects are presented. Diversimar project is a citizen science tool for the observation of the marine and fishing biodiversity of Galicia and the Cantabrian Sea. Mar interior project brings activity of IEO to society with face-to-face conferences and workshops. Planet Tuna project combines science with art through an online platform to enhance the scientific knowledge of tuna and other big pelagics for their sustainability. To end, the interactive book “45 days on the Flemish Cap Bank” spreads the technical and human effort of an oceanographic survey that remains behind the fisheries management developed by the IEO. The objective of the present study is to make visible and put in value these projects and serve as inspiration.

The Iberian margin in the Gulf of Cádiz hosts a fluid venting area embedded into a contourite depositional drift and is a natural laboratory to study how multiple interacting processes shape the seafloor. A high-resolution morpho-sedimentary analysis, based on geophysical data, sediment samples and submarine imagery, has been carried out; the onset and evolution of the main geoforms are discussed; and the influence of geological, oceanographic and biogenic processes conditioning substrate types and benthic community distribution are evaluated. The interplay of geological (e.g., salt and shale diapirism, mud volcanism), oceanographic (e.g., water mass circulation, secondary circulation, vertical eddies, internal waves) and biogenic (e.g., methane derived authigenic carbonates formation, coral mound aggradations) processes drive the formation of a large variety of geoforms including, among others, contourite drifts, channels, diapiric ridges, mud volcanoes, pockmarks, and coral mounds. At a smaller scale, the interaction between massive and fluid extrusive, biogenic, and bottom current-related processes (both depositional and erosive) determines the distribution of substrate types and benthic communities, which have been classified as belonging to different biotopes.

Report on the environmental monitoring (geophysics, seabed sampling, physical and chemical characteristics, and planton) made on the submarine volcano of Tagoro (El Hierro Islands) to evaluate the degree of affection and recovery on the marine ecosystem of the last volcanic eruption in the Canary region, making it extendable to other regions of the Canary Islands of possible hydrothermal or volcanological interest. In this sense, the "Enmedio" volcano has been investigated, between the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife., Instituto Español de Oceanografía

En el talud medio del golfo de Cádiz se desarrolla un sistema deposicional contornítico generado por la masa de Agua Mediterránea de Salida (Mediterranean Outflow Water; MOW) que interacciona con la topografía del fondo erosionando una serie de canales contorníticos en cuyos diques o levees se han identificados ondas sedimentarias oblicuas o paralelas a sus ejes. Estas ondas se han estudiado con mosaicos batimétricos adquiridos en varias campañas oceanográficas. Las ondas sedimentarias se encuentran entre 520 y 650 m de profundidad, sus longitudes axiales varían entre 360 m y 2400 m, sus alturas entre 3 m en posiciones alejadas del canal y 10 m en las ondas más proximales y sus longitudes de onda entre 175 y 600 m. Las velocidades de la MOW medida sobre estos campos de ondas oscilan entre 0,18 y 0,32 m/s. El origen de estas ondas podría explicarse por el desbordamiento de la parte superior del flujo canalizado, de forma que los cambios de dirección del canal harían que se “desprendiesen” las partes del flujo situadas por encima del canal, que iría perdiendo velocidad a medida que se separa de éste, justificándose así las direcciones de las ondas y la disminución de sus alturas a medida que aumenta la distancia al canal.

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION

Comunicación presentada al V Simposio Internacional de ciencias del Mar celebrado en alicante entre el 20 y el 22 de julio de 2016. Between October 2011 and March 2012 a submarine volcanic eruption took place at the offshore of El Hierro Island. The extensive study of the eruption and subsequent degassing process has allowed monitoring the newly generated volcanic edifice. Multibeam bathymetric has enabled building a digital high-resolution bathymetric model (grid 1x1 m). The preliminary analysis of the geomorphology of this volcanic eruption displays four main features: i) the edifice consists of a principal and a series of secondary cones distributed in NW-SE trend; ii) two escarpments NE-SW directed that partially match with inherited flanks of the previously existing valley; iii) three crests, one of them interpreted as the prolongation of a NE-SW scarp and the other as the head of gravitational instabilities of NE-SW and N-S direction at the main hill; and iv) mixed lava and dense pyroclastic flows extended from the volcanic edifice to the southwest and characterized by a high slope front, that probably represents the maximum distance reached by the main lava products. Versión del editor

Technical advances in hydrographic studies of the seafloor and the progressive use of these techniques in oceanographic expeditions with scientific objectives, is generating greater collaborations between the hydrographic and oceanographic institutions. Coordination between the different institutions and the use of IHO criteria in the acquisition of bathymetric data in oceanographic expeditions, allow regional hydrographic offices to have an additional source of data for the improvement of the navigation charts. Meanwhile the Oceanographic Institutions will benefit by having validated bathymetric data of high precision. This product is of great interest in studies of submarine geological hazards where is necessary to have a very detailed knowledge of the seabed to determine possible morphological changes associated with the risk processes and the possible active structures. In addition, monitoring of active volcanoes need to have a good knowledge of changes in the physico-chemical properties of the water column, the possible changes in low intensity emissions (hot water, gas) can be detected with these studies in the overlying water masses. Versión del editor

Advances in remotely-sensed techniques have revolutionized mapping methods and our understanding of the seabed environment. In particular, multibeam backscatter data nowadays allows developing quantitative studies on the composition of the seafloor, which represents an important baseline for habitat mapping. Usually, the acoustic response is considered as a direct proxy of sediment texture, but seepage could affect significantly this relationship. A multibeam data set from the Gulf of Cádiz, was grouped using an ISO-cluster analysis and results were compared with 80 ground-truthing stations taken inside and outside cold seepage areas. Results show significant differences between the acoustic response of sediments with the same texture depending on the presence/absence of fluid emissions. Understanding this relationship is necessary to make image-based backscatter classification that allows the production of sediment and habitat maps in areas with extensive fluid emissions such as the Gulf of Cádiz.