The changing North Sea: knowledge, speculation and new challenges

Synthesis and New Conception of North Sea Research (SYCON) is the title of a German project carried out from 1998–2000 under the leadership of Hamburg University1. It was accompanied by an international advisory board and covered North Sea issues as well as the general challenges to shelf sea research and sustainable management under global change. Particular emphasis was placed on the interdisciplinary analysis of comprehensive areas of knowledge: the data situation, understanding of processes, model development, instruments and methods, understanding of the system. Based on this, perspectives for future North Sea research were developed. The project produced a synthesis report, eleven monodisciplinary reports and an illustrated brochure for the general public (see Annex 1, this paper, p. 258).