EMSO-SA 2026 Oceanographic Cruise in the Southern Adriatic successfully concluded

The “EMSO-SA 2026-09” (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water Column Observatory – Southern Adriatic) campaign has been successfully concluded aboard the research vessel Gaia Blu.

This annual mission, conducted in the waters of the Southern Adriatic Sea, is dedicated to the maintenance of deep-sea moorings, submerged observational platforms that are part of EMSO ERIC, which is committed to the continuous monitoring of the oceans. The campaign was carried out through a collaboration between the CNR Institute of Polar Sciences and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), which coordinates the Southern Adriatic Sea Regional Facility.

Departing from Catania, the the research vessel Gaia Blu operated in the Strait of Otranto and the Southern Adriatic Pit, the deepest part of the Adriatic, located between the Italian city of Bari and the coast of Montenegro, where the seabed reaches a depth of 1,200 meters.

The CNR-OGS scientific team, supported by the onboard technical staff, recovered and performed maintenance on the EMSO-E2M3A deep-sea mooring. Key instruments for observing the marine environment, including sediment traps, current meters, sensors for pH and dissolved gases, hydrophones, and buoys, were inspected and repositioned. The mooring was then redeployed at the same location, ensuring the continuation of a data collection series that has remained nearly uninterrupted since 2006.

The mission also included direct measurements of temperature, salinity, and other chemical-physical parameters throughout the water column, carried out using a rosette-CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth) system. Samples collected at various depths will be analyzed in the laboratory to measure, among other parameters, oxygen, pH, and pollutants.

An initial analysis of the data confirms a trend of increasing temperature and salinity in the waters near the seabed. This is a significant indicator in a deep and fragile environment, where changes may be gradual yet have long-lasting effects on the ecosystem, reflecting broader transformations occurring across the entire Mediterranean.

In a sea increasingly exposed to the impacts of the climate crisis, maintaining long-term data series is essential for understanding the evolution of the marine system and the relationships between its various components. EMSO provides the scientific community with standardized data that is otherwise difficult to obtain, helping to improve our knowledge of the seas and oceans and to guide efforts toward their protection.