IndicatorS Of changing Lightscapes in Underwater Marine Ecosystems

The ISOLUME project will investigate how changes in light affect our oceans. Responding to a call from JPI Oceans, this international effort aims to understand the impacts of coastal water darkening and artificial light at night (ALAN) pollution on marine environments. Led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), the project includes researchers from Germany, Poland, Norway, Ireland, the UK, and Malta. They will examine how coastal marine lightscapes have evolved over decades and centuries, using historical data and advanced modelling techniques to uncover the drivers, sources, and impacts of these changes. The research will span large European sea basins and focuses on specific regional case studies. It explores the land-ocean connections from freshwater systems to the coastal waters, in addition to the role of and temperature and salinity gradients. ISOLUME is unique in that is will investigate four dimensions of marine lightscapes: intensity, location, timing, and spectra (the different wavelengths og light), focusing on changes over the past 25 years and projecting trends for 2050. The project involves external partners from various European countries, industry, stakeholders, and society. Through a Science Advisory and Stakeholder Panel, ISOLUME aims to develop effective monitoring and management strategies and establish policies to mitigate the impacts of changing marine lightscapes. The scientific evidence-based knowledge developed in ISOLUME will advance effective monitoring and management strategies and establish policy frameworks to mitigate changing marine lightscapes.

The ISOLUME project is a response to the JPI Oceans call on the “Consequences of Changing Marine Lightscapes”. This call identifies the urgent need to understand both the drivers and impacts of changes in marine lightscapes on the marine environment that result from both coastal darkening and marine artificial light at night (ALAN) pollution. Our international consortium, led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), includes partners from Germany, Poland, Norway, Ireland, UK and Malta. ISOLUME will assess how marine lightscapes have changed across European sea basins over decadal to centennial timescales, and determine drivers, sources and impacts of these changes at both large and small scales. Our approach combines historical trend analyses of in situ and remotely sensed marine optics with statistical and mechanistic modelling. It covers both large, European sea basin scales and focussed smaller scale regional case studies addressing different aspects of drivers and impacts of changing marine lightscapes. The investigation includes marine, estuarine and freshwater systems, land-ocean connectivity and temperature and salinity gradients. The project uniquely investigates four dimensions of marine lightscapes: intensity, location, timing, and spectra, with a focus on changes in the recent 25 years and projections for 2050. The involvement of external partners from European countries, industry, stakeholders, and society is facilitated through a Science Advisory and Stakeholder Panel supported by a scoping activity and a call for expression of interest. The scientific evidence-based knowledge developed in ISOLUME will advance effective monitoring and management strategies and establish policy frameworks to mitigate changing marine lightscapes.