Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research

This Report wants to be the first step in an initiative extending beyond POEM and the POEM community and reaching out to include Western mediterranean Scientists sharing the common vision of the Mediterranean Sea as a laboratory basin for processes of global importance. Many of these scientists were gathered at a seminar organized on 7-9 november 2011 at Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome, with the kind support of the Italian Space Academy Foundation, to mark the 25th Anniversary of POEM and have a substantially contributed to the ideas and the writing of the present report. This newly formed PAN-MED Group wants to send out a call for the establishment of a Pan-Mediterranean interdisciplinary oceanographic community to investigate the still unresolved issues and provide directions for future research.