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 NPMS-2016 was performed in period 2016-05-17 to 2016-05-21 in the North-Western shelf part of the Black Sea onboard the RV "Mare Nigrum". Quantitative phytoplankton samples (52 samples at 15 stations) were collected by vertical series consisting from several sampling depths. The depths were chosen aiming to collect samples from main hydrophysical layers. These layers were defined according to the CTD-sounding performed before the phytoplankton sampling at each station. A special attention was paid to fluorescence profiles obtained simultaneously with the CTD-sounding. The samples were collected from the upper mixed layer (UML), upper thermocline layer, lower thermocline layer, near bottom layer and depth of chlorophyll-a maximum (if this maximum did not coincide with other sampling layers). Sampling performed by A. Zotov (IMB NANU), M. Grandova (UkrSCES)