European Ocean Biodiversity Information System

Data collected within the EMBLAS-II - EU-UNDP Project 'Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea' (EMBLAS-II)- (http://emblasproject.org/). EMBLAS-II is co-financed by the European Commission (EC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project implementation started on 1 April 2014 and ended on 31 May 2018, having the total duration of 50 months. The EMBLAS project is addressing the overall need for support in protection and restoring the environmental quality and sustainability of the Black Sea. The specific objectives are as follows: Improve availability and quality of Black Sea environmental data in line with the MSFD and Black Sea Strategic Action Plan (2009) needs; Improve partner countries' ability to perform marine environmental monitoring along MSFD principles, taking into account the Black Sea Diagnostic Report II recommendations on capacity building. The National Pilot Monitoring Studies (NPMS) and Joint Open Sea Survey (JOSS) Programme was developed within the framework of Project Activities. The JOSS UA - GE 2016 was performed in period 2016.05.24 - 2016.06.04 in the Black Sea waters (Transects Odessa - Batumi - Constanta) onboard the R/V "Mare Nigrum" (Romania). Quantitative phytoplankton samples (58 samples at 25 stations) were collected by vertical series consisting from several sampling depths. The depths were chosen aiming to collect samples from main hydrophysical layers. At each station these layers were defined according to the CTD-sounding performed before the phytoplankton sampling. A special attention paid to the fluorescence profiles obtained simultaneously with the CTD-sounding. The samples were collected from upper mixed layer, upper thermocline layer, and deep chlorophyll-a maximum depth. When the vertical distribution of fluorescence allowed to suppose the presence of phytoplankton at such depths, samples from the Cold Intermediate Layer (CIL) at several stations, lower thermocline and near bottom layers were collected additionally. For sample collecting 5L Niskis bottles attached to the CTD rosette system were used. Volume of sample was equal to 3 L. Sampling performed by A. Zotov (IMB NANU), M. Grandova (UkrSCES)