Institute of Marine Sciences Middle East Technical University (IMS-METU) Turkey

Middle East Technical University (METU), Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) The Institute of Marine Sciences was established in 1975 with the dual objectives of conducting oceanographic research and providing graduate level education in marine sciences. The Institute is a part of the Middle East Technical University, which has become a major centre of education in the region since its establishment in 1956. The Institute established in 1975 has four main disciplines: (1) Physical Oceanography, (2) Chemical Oceanography, (3) Marine Biology and Fisheries, (4) Marine Geology and Geophysics, and (5) Atmospheric Science. The Institute carries out research (both observational and theoretical) on the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Seas as well as the Turkish Straits System. The main research foci are impacts of pollution, nutrient dynamics, primary production, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish population dynamics, acoustical methods in fisheries science, topography and structure of sub-bottom sediments and rocks, application of remote sensing to oceanography, and circulation dynamics. The Institute owns a well-equipped research vessel called R.V. BILIM. Some major international projects contributed in the recent years are: Monitoring of the basic oceanographic variables in the Turkish Seas, Compilation of the National Oceanographic Data Inventory, Ecosystem Modelling as a Management Tool for the Black Sea: A Regional Program of Multi-Institutional Cooperation. (TU-Black Sea), Black Sea Ecosystem Processes And Forecasting / Operational Database Management, Multidisciplinary Analysis of the Caspian Sea Ecosystem (MACE), MFSTEP, MAMA, MERSEA and SEA-SEARCH, ARENA, a Pan-European Network for Ocean & Marine Data and Information Management, EUR-OCEANS, SESAME, ECOOP. IMS-METU participates to GLOBEC and IMBER Programmes.

Key Personnel

Temel Oguz

Professor since 1992 in the METU. He is generally recognized for his work on the Black Sea circulation and ecosystem dynamics. His current research interests include continental shelf dynamics, two-layer stratified flows and its application to the Turkish Straits System, mesoscale circulation in the Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Seas, modelling ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycles and their coupling with circulation and upper layer physics, and their applications to Black and Mediterranean Seas.  He is an Editorial Board member of Journal of Marine Systems and some international associations.