Please note, most links from this page concern details relevent to PROVESS participents only, and access to the links are therefore restricted.
PROVESS was approved for funding on 25th February 1997, and official notification and documentation received March/April. The EC contribution of 2.1m ecus was agreed, which is 70% of the original funding request. A copy of the Consensus Report from the EU is available to PROVESS participents.
A meeting was held at POL 27th May 1997 to discuss and revise the project and finances, and the minutes are available. Following the meeting a new proposal (Technical Annexe) was submitted to the EU in June 1997.
A meeting was held at the RWS in Den Haag on 20th October 1997 to discuss ship time and requirements for the experiments. Abbreviated minutes of this meeting are available to project participents. Following this meeting and to tackle outstanding EU queries, another Technical Annexe was drafted and accepted by the EU.
The inaugural meeting was held at Napier University, Edinburgh 9-10th March 1998, 9 days after the official project start. The final Technical Annexe, Timetables, measurements and cruises were discussed. (minutes)
A preliminary experiment took place in the Southern North Sea organised by RWS, Netherlands, and some Particle Size distribution results are available.
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Northern North Sea experiment
The Valdivia sailed to the northern North Sea site (59°20'N 1°E) on 4th September
1998 to deploy moorings and to carry out the first measurements, returning to base on the
17th September.
The Dana cruise was from 14th - 17th October, the
Pelagia 19-30th October and the
Challenger 22nd October - 9th November.
The weather during the last two weeks in October was particularly bad, with strong winds
consistently reaching Force 8! Most measurements were completed, although perhaps not
as many as planned, and the moorings were recovered by Challenger.
The data will now be checked and processed, ready to be analysed and eventually integrated
into the models.
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The second six-monthly meeting was held in Copenhagen, October 1-2nd 1998, hosted by DIFRES. A short report of the Valdivia cruise was presented, together with some sample measurements. Summaries of the work completed so far were presented, and final details of the remaining cruises (see above) were made. See minutes for details. It was decided a further meeting to plan the southern North Sea campaign was needed before the next six-monthly meeting, and this would be held in Brussels on a mutually agreable date (eventually decided as 26th November 1998).
The first twelve-monthly meeting was held in Venice, hosted by CNR, on 15-16th March 1999. Information for the first 12 monthly report to the EU were consolidated, and plans for the Southern North Sea experiment were finalised. Northern North Sea experiment information and processed data measurements were presented. Modelling was also discussed and early modelling developments presented. Minutes of the meeting are now available to PROVESS members.
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Southern North Sea experiment
The southern North Sea experiment has been sucessfully completed. Three ships
(Pelagia, Mitra and Belgica)
had very successful cruises, with
almost all intended measurements being made, and all but two moorings
sucessfuly recovered.
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Reports on cruises and data were presented at the 6 monthly PROVESS meeting in Marseille in September/October 1999. Discussion took place on the next stage of the work, with emphasis on keeping the momentum going, and bringing the various models together. The Marseille minutes are now available. A modelling meeting was also held prior to the main meeting to plan the modelling packages of the project in more detail.
The 4th 6-monthly meeting was hosted by SOGREAH in Grenoble, France on March 8-9th, 2000. The meeting covered the data analysis results since the last meeting, and also the modelling progress. Discussions took place on presentation of the work, and final publications. Separate modelling meetings were also carried out during the two day meeting. Minutes are available.
The 5th 6-monthly meeting took place at MUMM, Brussels on 20-22nd September 2000, and the minutes are now available. The latest data analysis and modelling results were presented and discussion took place regarding project dissemination.
The 6th 6-monthly meeting was held as part of the European Geophysical Society General Assembly meeting in Nice 26-30th March 2001, where PROVESS had a special session for presentations.
Project members are also preparing papers for a Special Edition of the Journal of Sea Research in late 2001.
PROVESS officially ended on 31st May 2001, but paperwork and
publications will be ongoing for some time.
