WEATHER-MIC and EPHEMARE: 2 JPI-OCEANS projects on board the Race for Water platform in 2017 Dear Water Guardian Experts, We are glad to announce you that research teams from two JPI-Oceans research projects : WEATHER-MIC and EPHEMARE will join our future Race for Water Odyssey 2017-2021 using the Race for Water platform to carry out their micro-plastics studies. WEATHER-MIC aims to deepen our understanding of how micro-plastic ages in the oceans, and to explore the implications of this aging for the marine environment. WEATHER-MIC researchers mainly focus their research off the coast of Norway and Sweden. The upcoming collaboration with Race for Water will allow WEATHER-MIC researchers to obtain samples from elsewhere in the world. This will increase the perspective of the WEATHER-MIC research projects to be more global. The WEATHER-MIC project is a collaboration between five research institutes in Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The project is headed by Dr. Annila Jahnke (UFZ Leipzig), with Dr. Hans Peter Arp (NGI Norway) co-leading the project. Dr. Arp, along with young WEATHER-MIC researchers from the NGI, will be joining part of the Race for Water expedition to conduct sampling. NGI is a private commercial foundation and Norway's largest geotechnical specialist community and a leading international centre of research and consultancy in engineering-related geosciences. Read more about their 8 WEATHER-MIC work packages (7 scientific and 1 administrative) here: http://jpi-oceans.eu/weather-mic/project-activitiesand at: https://www.ngi.no/eng/Projects/WEATHER-MIC-microplastics-in-the-marine-environment. EPHEMARE - Ecotoxicological effects of micro-plastics in marine ecosystems aims to investigate the toxic effect of micro-plastics on marine organisms. EPHEMARE targets (1) the uptake, tissue distribution, final fate and effects of micro-plastics in organisms representative of pelagic and benthic ecosystems, and (2) the potential role of micro-plastics as vectors of model Persitant Pollutants that readily adsorb to their surfaces. The EPHEMARE project is a multidisciplinary consortium of 14 partners from Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and micro-plastics experts from the UK. The project is lead by Professor Ricardo Beiras (University of Vigo, Spain). Read more about their 7 EPHEMARE work packages here: http://www.jpi-oceans.eu/ephemare/work-packages. ; Jérôme Cachot , university lecturer and researcher at University of Bordeaux: "Between 8 and 12 million tons of plastic are discarded each year at sea. What is the future of these plastics and what are their effects on marine organisms? The scientists involved in the European projects Ephemare and Weather-Mic must try to answer these two questions. The Odyssey 2017-2020 launched by the Race for Water Foundation presents a real opportunity for scientists to assess microplastic concentrations in the water column and sediment in the North Atlantic. An opportunity to understand the contamination and the toxic effects of these microplastics on living organisms. This expedition also provides a wonderful forum for communicating the results of our research and raising public awareness of the issue of ocean pollution." More information on this two JPI-Oceans micro-plastics research projects and their involvement with us, to come, We are available for further information and still looking for other scientific teams that could be interested to use this platform for further research during this new Odyssey, Kind regards.
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