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Worldwide, governments are implementing strategies to combat marine litter. However, their effectiveness is largely unknown because we lack tools to systematically monitor marine litter over broad spatio-temporal scales. Metre-sized aggregations of floating debris generated by sea-surface convergence lines have been reported as a reliable target for detection from satellites. Yet, the usefulness of such ephemeral, scattered aggregations as proxy for sustained, large-scale monitoring of marine litter remains an open question for a dedicated Earth-Observation mission. Here, we track this proxy over a series of 300,000 satellite images of the entire Mediterranean Sea. The proxy is mainly related to recent inputs from land-based litter sources. Despite the limitations of in-orbit technology, satellite detections are sufficient to map hot-spots and capture trends, providing an unprecedented source-to-sink view of the marine litter phenomenon. Torrential rains largely control marine litter inputs, while coastal boundary currents and wind-driven surface sweep arise as key drivers for its distribution over the ocean. Satellite-based monitoring proves to be a real game changer for marine litter research and management. Furthermore, the development of an ad-hoc sensor can lower the minimum detectable concentration by one order of magnitude, ensuring operational monitoring, at least for seasonal-to-interannual variability in the mesoscale., Postprint (published version)

This report focuses on encouraging usage of Copernicus Marine Service products by fisheries users and scientists, and consists of a number of key studies where numerous EuroSea activities support the uptakes of Copernicus Marine Service data products, focusing on Atlantic mackerel, European hake and Atlantic tuna. The report also contains an intercomparison study focused on oceanographic equipment (CTD) to determine the most suitable sensor for a fisheries observing system. A number of recommendations are provided on how to support the use of Copernicus Marine Service products in fisheries science, such as the production of new Best Practices, stronger partnerships (fisheries scientists and oceanographers) and co-development of ocean indicators.

Eutrophication is one of the most important anthropogenic pressures impacting coastal seas. In Europe, several legislations and management measures have been implemented to halt nutrient overloading in marine ecosystems. This study evaluates the impact of freshwater nutrient control measures on higher trophic levels (HTL) in European marine ecosystems following descriptors and criteria as defined by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). We used a novel pan-European marine modeling ensemble of fourteen HTL models, covering almost all the EU seas, under two nutrient management scenarios. Results from our projections suggest that the proposed nutrient reduction measures may not have a significant impact on the structure and function of European marine ecosystems. Among the assessed criteria, the spawning stock biomass of commercially important fish stocks and the biomass of small pelagic fishes would be the most impacted, albeit with values lower than 2.5%. For the other criteria/indicators, such as species diversity and trophic level indicators, the impact was lower. The Black Sea and the North-East Atlantic were the most negatively impacted regions, while the Baltic Sea was the only region showing signs of improvement. Coastal and shelf areas were more sensitive to environmental changes than large regional and sub-regional ecosystems that also include open seas. This is the first pan-European multi-model comparison study used to assess the impacts of land-based measures on marine and coastal European ecosystems through a set of selected ecological indicators. Since anthropogenic pressures are expanding apace in the marine environment and policy makers need to use rapid and effective policy measures for fast-changing environments, this modeling framework is an essential asset in supporting and guiding EU policy needs and decisions.

A novel pan-European marine model ensemble was established, covering nearly all seas under the regulation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), with the aim of providing a consistent assessment of the potential impacts of riverine nutrient reduction scenarios on marine eutrophication indicators. For each sea region, up to five coupled biogeochemical models from institutes all over Europe were brought together for the first time. All model systems followed a harmonised scenario approach and ran two simulations, which varied only in the riverine nutrient inputs. The load reductions were evaluated with the catchment model GREEN and represented the impacts due to improved management of agriculture and wastewater treatment in all European river systems. The model ensemble, comprising 15 members, was used to assess changes to the core eutrophication indicators as defined within MSFD Descriptor 5. In nearly all marine regions, riverine load reductions led to reduced nutrient concentrations in the marine environment. However, regionally the nutrient input reductions led to an increase in the non-limiting nutrient in the water, especially in the case of phosphate concentrations in the Black Sea. Further core eutrophication indicators, such as chlorophyll-a, bottom oxygen and the Trophic Index TRIX, improved nearly everywhere, but the changes were less pronounced than for the inorganic nutrients. The model ensemble displayed strong consistency and robustness, as most if not all models indicated improvements in the same areas. There were substantial differences between the individual seas in the speed of response to the reduced nutrient loads. In the North Sea ensemble, a stable plateau was reached after only three years, while the simulation period of eight years was too short to obtain steady model results in the Baltic Sea. The ensemble exercise confirmed the importance of improved management of agriculture and wastewater treatments in the river catchments to r

El objetivo de este estudio fue realizar un estudio de factibilidad de un sistema de bombeo fotovoltaico sin cobertura eléctrica en el sector Hoja Blanca del cantón Flavio Alfaro del Ecuador. La metodología se ha enmarcado en una investigación documental-bibliográfica acerca de la temática. Por ello, se realizó una indagación vía online de fuentes bibliográficas académicas publicados entre los años 2017 y 2021. El criterio de selección se basó en rigor en aportes, relevancia y pertinencia. Se encontró que las aportaciones de los documentos consultados coinciden en el hecho de que los sistemas de bombeo fotovoltaico se han constituido en una alternativa rentable para la sustitución del sistema de bombeo convencional, aunado al hecho de que es una energía renovable y limpia. Se concluye que predomina una visión entre los autores citados de que los sistemas de bombeo fotovoltaico para cualquier zona rural y de difícil acceso con las condiciones óptimas de irradiación solar, tal cual ocurre en el país ecuatoriano, es una tendencia para mejorar la calidad de las actividades que requieran de un sistema con resultados eficaces y que utiliza elementos ya existentes en la naturaleza y herramientas de fácil acceso en el mercado, y que con simples adaptaciones para su aplicación tienen un óptimo de funcionamiento.