In the summer of 2005 the Commission successfully launched CIESM SUB1*, its first multi-disciplinary oceanographic campaign in 80 years, which explored the deep waters of little-known areas in the south-Tyrrhenian Sea and the northern Sicily Channel. The objective was to analyze physical and biological changes induced by the inflow of warmer, saltier waters from the eastern sub-basin.

This expedition took place onboard the Italian ship Universitatis and proudly renewed with a tradition of exploratory cruises initiated by CIESM in the 1920s, when oceanographic studies were carried out under the CIESM flag onboard French, Italian and Spanish research vessels.

The Commission aims to develop such initiatives further, and is setting up an integrated system of multi-disciplinary, multi-national oceanographic cruises, targeting poorly researched areas of the Mediterranean Sea, and involving early career scientists.

* A second CIESM campaign, SUB2, followed in December 2005, onboard the Urania.