Contents:

I - Executive summary
by Claude Millot and Frédéric Briand, with significant input from Alex Lascaratos, Jordi Font, Bruno Manca, Miro Gacic, and Manolo Vargas.
1 - Introduction and background
2 - Analyses of available data sets
3 - Thematic axes / priorities identified
4 - CIESM initiative - next steps

II - Workshop communications

1 - Analyses of available data sets
- Understanding climate changes in Mediterranean water masses.
H.L. Bryden and R. Boscolo

- Interannual variability of atmospheric parameters over the Mediterranean basin from 1945 to 1994.
A. Lascaratos, S. Sofianos and G. Korres

- Variability of the Mediterranean water around the Spanish coast: project radiales.
M. Vargas-Yáñez, T. RamÍrez, D. Cortès, M.L. Fernández de Puelles, A. Lavín, J.L. López-Jurado, C. González-Pola, I. Vidal, and M. Sebastián

- The oceanographic and meteorological station at l´Estartit (NW Mediterranean).
J. Salat and J. Pascual

- Interannual variability in waters of the Balearic Islands.
J.L. López-Jurado

- Physical historical data on the Ligurian Sea from the Villefranche-sur-mer Observatory.
L. Prieur

- Overview on the marine monitoring programs in the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.
M. Snoussi

- Experimental evidence of the interannual variability of currents in two Mediterranean straits: the Strait of Sicily and the Corsica Channel.
G.P. Gasparini and M. Astraldi

- Hydrographic and chemical time series in the central Mediterranean: a sensitivity test for long-term changes in the Mediterranean.
M. Astraldi, G.P. Gasparini, M. Ribera d´Alcalà, F. Conversano, and R. Lavezza

- Warming and salting of the Tyrrhenian Deep Water.
J-L. Fuda and C. Millot

- Southern Adriatic and Otranto Strait - Key areas for climatic monitoring.
M. Gacic

- Long-term changes in Adriatic thermohaline properties.
I. Vilibic

- Low-frequency changes of water masses structure, flow patterns and biochemical exchanges through the Eastern Mediterranean regions.
B. Manca, B. Klein, N. Kress and M. Ribera d´Alcalà

- Variability of sea water properties in the Ionian, Cretan and Levantine seas during the last century.
A. Theocharis, A. Lascaratos and S. Sofianos

- Annual and longÐterm changes in the salinity and the temperature of the waters of the South-eastern Levantine Basin.
I. Gertman and A. Hecht

- The monitoring of the evolution of the hydrological characteristics in the deep basins of the North Aegean Sea.
D. Georgopoulos, V. Zervakis, A. Theocharis, K. Nittis, L. Perivoliotis and A. Papadopoulos

2 - Monitoring strategy : current programmes and proposals
- CLIVAR and the Mediterranean climate.
W.J. Gould and R. Boscolo

- SISTEMI, a scientific monitoring program to assess the multi-scale variability and change of the Italian marine regions.
G. Civitarese

- Proposal for long-term monitoring sites for climatic trend detection.
P. Malanotte-Rizzoli

- Monitoring the Mediterranean changes.
G.M.R. Manzella, G. Fusco, and F. Reseghetti

- Components of a Mediterranean observational network: moored profilers and Argo floats.
R. Boscolo and H.L. Bryden

- A proposal for monitoring hydrological trends in the Mediterranean Sea.
C. Millot

- Submarine groundwater discharge and its influence on hydrological trends in the Mediterranean Sea.
E.A. Kontar, W.C. Burnett and P.P. Povinec

- MEDAR/MEDATLAS - A database for Mediterranean and Black Sea projects.
C. Maillard

III - Bibliographic references

IV - List of participants