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SPAIN
National Contact	Rafel Simó
Email	rsimoicm.csic.es
Website	None
Full Reports (pdf)	Jun 02 Mar 06 Feb 07 Presentation- Mar 07 (pdf ) 36Kb

Current status of SOLAS planning :

Spanish SOLAS at present has no direct (explicit) funding to carry out SOLAS science from national grants. However, because ocean-atmosphere interactions and Global Change are among the research priorities in the Spanish Research Plan, our community is very proactive in SOLAS-related research, and a number of activities at both national and international levels are being conducted (see Feb 2007 report for details). Ongoing projects include studies of nitrogen fixation, CO2 exchange and transport, measurements of pH and its effects on calcifying organisms, DMS emissions and their influence on cloud properties over regional to global scales, single-cell biogeochemistry of DMS production, coastal N2O and CH4 measurements, air-sea exchange of bulk volatile carbon, wet and dry atmospheric deposition of trace metals, nutrients, and persistent pollutants to the ocean, effects of UVR on air-sea gas exchanges. The geographic span of SOLAS-related studies includes the Mediterranean, the Equatorial and the subtropical Atlantic in both hemispheres, the temperate North Atlantic, the Arctic, and the Antarctic.

Future plans for national activities:

The new funding call of the Spanish Research Plan (early 2008), just as the last one did, will wisdom a new generation of projects that propose to visit most of the main global ocean basins and introduce research challenges that are new or very recent in the Spanish SOLAS community, such as the use of stable isotopes in air-sea exchange biogeochemistry, studies of air-sea-ice interactions, or photobiogeochemistry. The success of the first joint IMBER-GLOBEC-SOLAS Spain open science meeting held in Valencia in 2007 encourages for the planning of another of such meetings for the near future.

Opportunities for national participation in international SOLAS activities:

SOLAS research groups in Spain take part actively in various international initiatives: CARBOOCEAN, SESAME, THRESHOLDS, EUR-OCEANS, COST 735 (EU), BIOCOMPLEXITY (USA), OASIS, GEOTRACES, IPY (international). Spanish scientists offer expertise in a broad range of SOLAS topics, namely pCO2 measurements, exchangeable DOC measurements, DMS cycling, net metabolic rates, N2 fixation, organic pollutants, and the microbiology of air-sea exchanges. A brand new, well equipped research ship, RV Sarmiento de Gamboa, launched for science in 2008, will provide new opportunities for international collaboration. Every second year, the SOLAS Spain committee encourages and supports young researchers (mainly PhD students) to attend the SOLAS Summer School. In 2007, four students received full funding support.

SOLAS Spain Committee

Rafel Simó (co-ordinator, rsimoicm.csic.es) – ICM-CSIC – DMS, aerosols
Antonio Tovar-Sánchez  - IMEDEA – trace metals
Jordi Dachs  - IIQAB-CSIC – aerosols, pollutants, VOC
Melchor González-Dávila  - ULPGC – air-sea exchange of CO2
Xosé Anxelu G. Morán  - IEO – food-web processes, N2 fixation and
Aida F. Ríos (IIM-CSIC) as President of the IGBP-Spain Committee and
Isabel Cacho (UB) as member of the SOLAS International Scientific Steering Committee