A new JPI Oceans-funded project, AQUA-SHELF, has been recommended for funding under the Joint Call on Offshore Freshened Groundwater (OFG), funded by partners from Malta, Italy, Germany and Greece. 

Coordinated by Prof. Sebastiano D'Amico (University of Malta), the project will carry out one of the first dedicated scientific drilling and hydrogeological validation campaigns for OFG in a European continental shelf setting at a site in the northern Adriatic Sea. The research will combine offshore drilling, field measurements and modelling to better understand how these subsurface freshwater systems are structured and how they function. 

By addressing critical knowledge gaps, AQUA-SHELF will strengthen the scientific basis needed to assess sustainability and inform decision making on the management of coastal and offshore water resources. Its findings are expected to contribute to future policy development in this field of emerging attention.

Xjenza Malta, Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca, Italy, Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Germany, and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece with in-kind contributions. The Joint Call is co-branded by the UN Ocean Decade.