Joint Research Unit EMSO-Italia: Structuring the Italian Contribution to EMSO European Research Infrastructure for the Long-term Observation of the Central Mediterranean Deep environment

EMSO ERIC (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory European Research Infrastructure Consortium) is a brand-new pan-European Research Infrastructure (RI) based on an integrated system of Regional Facilities. It is aimed at the long-term multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary observation of the deep ocean by means of fixed-point multi-sensor platforms deployed in scientifically relevant key-sites of the European seas. EMSO ERIC main scientific objective is the observation and recording of environmental variables, at an unprecedented resolution. The ultimate goal is to understand the complex interactions between the geosphere, the biosphere and the hydrosphere and to address the major present challenges in the thematic areas of climate change, marine ecosystems and geo-hazards. In particular, Italy has initially joined EMSO ERIC as founding member with a cabled observatory located in the Western Ionian Sea (25-km offshore Sicily island at about 2000 m of depth) managed by a collaboration of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Additional existing facilities will be proposed for the integration in EMSO RI upon acceptance by the ERIC consortium. They are presently managed by other Italian research institutions in the collaborative framework of the Joint Research Unit (JRU) EMSO-Italia. These facilities will expand the monitoring coverage of EMSO in the deep and intermediate waters of Central Mediterranean, and some of them will contribute as shallow-water test-sites. An overview of the facilities is here given with particular focus on their observation capabilities, type of time-series acquired and ongoing development.