The Black Sea ecosystem is a unique marine environment. Its isolation
from the ocean and large catchment basin, covering industrial and rural
parts of the European and Asian continents, render the Black Sea
ecosystem extremely vulnerable to the imposed environmental burdens
Complex scientific problems related to the recent evolution of the Black
Sea ecosystem were tackled in the framework of the NATO TU BLACK SEA
project `Ecosystem modelling as a management tool for the Black Sea',
implemented between 1993 and 1997.
The primary results and the products of the TU BLACK SEA project were
presented to the scientific community at a dedicated symposium held on
15-19 June, 1997 at Zori Rossii on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea.
The present two volumes contain 47 of the papers presented at the
symposium, selected by peer review. Volume I contains 27 papers in all,
two on the NATO TU Black SEA database and database management system,
eight on the Black Sea biogeochemistry, and 17 on the biological
structure of the basin. Of the 20 papers appearing in Volume II, nine
are physical processes and 11 are on the modelling of the circulation
and the ecosystems of the Black Sea.