Underwater Biotechnological Park

Underwater Biotechnological Park

Key research areas

Long-term monitoring of the coastal environment, Recreational Diving Oasis with Artificial Reefs, Effects of climate change on marine organisms, Assessment of non-indigenous species (NIS)

People involved

Costas Dounas (retired)

Costas Dounas (retired)
Research Director
+30 2810337814
kdounas@hcmr.gr


Thanos Dailianis

Thanos Dailianis
Assistant Researcher


Panayota (Yolanda) Koulouri

Panayota (Yolanda) Koulouri
Principal Researcher


Dimitris Androulakis

Dimitris Androulakis
Previous Members


Research Directions
Marine biodiversity Marine biodiversity
Ecology and ecosystem management Ecology and ecosystem management
Services
  • Scientific diving
  • Environmental assessment and monitoring
  • Innovative artificial reefs technology services
  • Taxonomic identification services
  • The Underwater Biotechnological Park of Crete (UBPC) is an applied research infrastructure established in 2015.  It occupies a seafloor area of 2.5 hectares at depths between 18 and 22 m in the Gulf of Heraklion, Crete, one nautical mile from the coast. Its main objectives are:

    • the continuous monitoring of coastal environmental parameters
    • the experimental cultivation and study of marine biological resources
    • the development and testing of methods in fisheries management and marine ecotourism
     

    The underwater experimental facility is fully supported by the scientific diving unit operated by IMBBC. At the core of the experimental area, an underwater observatory continuously monitoring environmental parameters, comprising three autonomous oceanographic instruments (ADCP, CTD, fluorometer) deployed on the seafloor and an array of temperature loggers deployed along the water column.

    Equipment of the seafloor observatory operating at the core of the underwater experimental facility:

    • SonTek Acoustic Doppler Profiler (water velocity; 24 cells, 1 m cell size; wave height)
    • SAIV SD208 CTD (conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen)
    • Turner Designs C3 Fluorometer (in-vivo chlorophyll sensor, turbidity sensor, fluorescein sensor)
    • Onset HOBO Pro v2 U-22 temperature loggers (temperature along the water column, array of 6)

    Related Content

    • Dimitrios N. Androulakis , Costas G. Dounas, Andrew Clive Banks, Antonios N. Magoulas and Dionissios P. Margaris, 2020. An Assessment of Computational Fluid Dynamics as a Tool to Aid the Design of the HCMR-Artificial-ReefsTM Diving Oasis in the Underwater Biotechnological Park of Crete. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4847; https://doi:10.3390/su121248
    • Dimitrios N. Androulakis , Andrew Clive Banks, Costas G. Dounas and Dionissios P. Margaris, 2020. An Evaluation of Autonomous In Situ Temperature Loggers in a Coastal Region of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea for Use in the Validation of Near-Shore Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Measurements. Remote Sensing 2020, 12(7), 1140; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12071140

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