CINCS

CINCS was the acronym used for an EU project to better understand the ecosystem of the Sea of Crete in the NE Mediterranean.

Background

The CINCS ("pelagic-benthic Coupling IN the oligotrophic Cretan Sea") project was a European Union project (MAS2-CT94-0092) carried out under the European Commission's Marine Science and Technology Programme (MAST-II) from May 1994 to June 1996.

Aims

The aim of the project was to achieve a better understanding of the Sea of Crete's oligotrophic ecosystem and to investigate its pelagic-benthic coupling efficiency. The main goal was to detect and quantify the transfers of shelf and surface derived organic matter to the benthos on a seasonal, bathymetric and interannual basis. Monitoring was performed both in the water column and on the seafloor in a steady area of 30 x 40 nautical miles, and ranging from 40 to 1570 metres water depth. Assessing benthic biodiversity was a key component and was intensively studied on both a spatial and a temporal basis during eight cruises with the research vessels "R/V Aegaeo" and "R/V Philia".

Participation

The project was coordinated by Anastasios Tselepides, professor of oceanography at the Institute of Marine Biology of Crete. The project involved seven laboratories (Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, National Centre of Marine Research in Athens, University of Genova, University of Tromsø, Southampton Oceanography Centre, University of Crete and the Laboratory of Marine Microbiology in Marseille). Most of the scientific results were published in a special volume of the journal "Progress in Oceanography".

References

*Anastasios Tselepides & Thalia Polychronaki (2000), The CINCS project: introduction, Progress in Oceanography, 46(2-4), 85-88, doi|10.1016/S0079-6611(00)00013-6 (with 16 other articles in the same issue).