KEYCOP is the acronym for the EU-project Key coastal processes in the mesotrophic Skagerrak and the oligotrophic Aegean and was funded by the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

's Marine Science and Technology Programme (MAST-III) from 1998 to 2001 (MAS3-CT97-0148).
Aim of the marine research project was to understand and model the processes that determine flux of carbon, nutrients and trace substances in the water column and sediment

Sediment

Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....

 in different hydrographic and nutrient regimes and the vertical and horizontal fluxes between the pelagic and benthic systems. In particular the project studied how processes change over scales from micrometres to tens of metres and along physicochemical gradients, and compared processes under two contrasting situations, stratified and mixed water masses. By comparing two contrasting semi-enclosed European Seas, the Skagerrak

Skagerrak

The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...

 and the northern Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

, the project was able to study differences in functioning between a mesotrophic and oligotroph

Oligotroph

An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments...

ic system. These were complemented by one-dimensional modelling studies (General Ocean Turbulence Model, GOTM, coupled with European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model, ERSEM).

The project was coordinated by John S. Gray

John S. Gray

John S. Gray was a Republican politician from Idaho. He served as the 2nd Lieutenant Governor of Idaho. As President Pro-Tempore, Gray filled in as Lieutenant Governor upon N. B. Willey's resignation in 1890.-References:...

, professor of marine biology, at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

, Norway and had five further partner institutes and four associate partners and subcontractors from seven European countries in total. The scientific results were a contribution to the major initiatives to understand coastal processes and interactions: Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ

LOICZ

Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone is a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change ....

) established by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and the European Land-Ocean Interaction Study (ELOISE

Eloise

-Places:*Éloise, a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.-Music:* "Eloise" , a song written by Paul Ryan, first released by Barry Ryan, covered by The Damned and others...

) established by the European Union. Project results were archived in the data library PANGAEA .