The National Institute for Research and Development of Marine Geology and Geoecology – GeoEcoMar () is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n institute of geology and geo-ecology founded in 1993. It was initially named ''Romanian Centre for Marine Geology and Geo-ecology''. Its administrative and scientific headquarters is in the capital of Romania,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

; but the operational center, with the research vessels and marine infrastructure, is in

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

, an important harbor on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. The first director of the institute was the academician Nicolae Panin, now retired and a personal adviser of the current director, Gheorghe Oaie.

Programs and partners

GeoEcoMar is involved in European research programs of hydrological river-delta-sea macro-systems. It has fathomed the study of coastal erosion and its correction and participates in European programs to monitor potential hazards in the Black Sea. It explores the environmental effects of a dramatic decline due to the sediments collected by the upstream dams. Also, the Institute is involved in carbon dioxide capture and storage. Since 1996, GeoEcoMar has been formally authorized to develop impact studies and environmental evaluations in Romania. Since 2006 it has been certified ISO 9001 for research conducted in geology, geophysics and geo-ecology, and by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (Romania) in accordance with ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 9001: 2008. The Institute obtained the European status of excellence (Euro-EcoGeoCentre Romania). GeoEcoMar is, alongside similar institutes from Italy, France, UK, Greece, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal, a member of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO), a network of various institutes and companies monitoring the open ocean or shallow waters in order to prevent hazards,

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

or earthquake effects. It has initiated ''Évolution du littoral danubien: vulnérabilité et prévention'' project which is to collect seismic data from the mouth of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, to study the morpho-sedimentary structure of the river-sea system.

Fleet

The Institute’s investigations are undertaken with the help of the largest research vessel in the

: ''Mare Nigrum'', an interdisciplinary research vessel which is 82 m long and has a displacement capacity of 3200 tonnes; and also ''Istros'', which has a length of 32m and a displacement of 125 tonnes; and ''Halmyris'', a laboratory boat bridge of 32 meters long and a displacement capacity of 90 tonnes.

References

External links

GeoEcoMar home page
(in Romanian)

(in English) {{authority control

Black Sea Research institutes in Romania Danube Delta Hydrology organizations 1993 establishments in Romania Organizations established in 1993