Oceanographic cruises are being organised as part of the PAGES project to evaluate and provide further validation for the science-based, process-oriented adaptive sampling strategy that the project advocates for assessing the Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine environments. This strategy adopts a comprehensive approach connecting biological responses to the fundamental fluid-dynamical processes that ultimately govern their functioning.
The inaugural PAGES cruise is scheduled to take place from April 10 to April 24, 2026, aboard the R/V Gaia Blu, with the objective of evaluating the GES in the region encompassing the southern Sicilian coast and the vicinity of the Maltese Islands. This location has been selected due to its notable upwelling phenomena and the related filaments that extend offshore, as indicated by satellite data, such as the sea surface chlorophyll concentration depicted in the image for April 15, 2023. The arrangement of sampling stations and transects illustrated on the map is merely indicative and will be finalised on-site by monitoring the evolving dynamical processes. The sampling will focus on areas of interest based on real-time satellite data and oceanographic modelling information available on the day of the cruise.
With the involvement of distinguished marine scientists and under the leadership of CNR, this initiative seeks to connect various descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and enhance the understanding and attainment of GES in a more integrative fashion. It will also test and apply best practices for GES assessment concerning biodiversity, trophic levels, and contaminants, thereby improving the identification of anomalies linked to the processes that influence ecosystem health, stability, and resilience.
More specifically the cruise addresses several key scientific objectives:
- Comprehend ecosystem interactions: Investigate the interplay between ocean dynamics, biodiversity, food webs, and pollutants from coastal regions to open waters. This encompasses the mapping of species, monitoring ecological shifts, and ultimately identifying new species and their interactions.
- Evaluate environmental health: Assess the GES of the area by integrating various environmental factors (such as biodiversity, food webs, pollution, and water conditions) in a more cohesive manner.
- Examine contamination: Investigate the movement of trace metals and pollutants through plankton and marine food webs, as well as how the structure of ecosystems influences their accumulation.
Ultimately, the scientific results will inform proposals for enhancements to existing monitoring frameworks, transitioning from basic threshold-based evaluations to more dynamic, knowledge-driven approaches. These findings will be disseminated to authorities and organisations to optimise monitoring efforts and to more effectively support marine environmental policies.
The objective is to gather more insightful data — targeted, efficient information that enhances our comprehension of how marine ecosystems evolve over time. The goal is to accurately measure what is significant — identifying when and where changes occur. We fully acknowledge that this presents a substantial challenge, and we do not yet possess all the solutions. PAGES aspires to render marine monitoring more adaptive, more intelligent, and better equipped to safeguard the health of our oceans.
Map of the area covered by the PAGES oceanographic cruise. Transects will follow an adaptive monitoring approach to cover areas of interest on the basis of real-time satellite data like sea surface chlorophyll concentration shown as an example for 15th April 2023.