- Objective 1: Downscaling future atmospheric variables (air temperature, pressure, wind data…) and wave parameters (significant height, peak period, direction...) at high spatial resolution near the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula considering different climate change scenarios. This downscaling will be based on data (historical and projections) provided by the CMIP6 project (https://www.wcrp-climate.org/
- Objective 2: Downscaling future oceanographic variables (temperature and salinity) and wave properties inside Rías Baixas at very high resolution by means of models like Delft3D for oceanographic variables and SWAN for waves. Unstructured grids will be used to pass from around a few kilometers at the continental shelf to around one hundred meters inside the rías.
- Objective 3: Temperature modeling in the sediment. This approach is crucial for benthic bivalves that can be buried several centimeters in the sediment depending on the species. The NOAH Mussel Model (NMM), which is based on the NOAH land surface model, will be used. NMM includes new "vegetation" types, including barnacles and mussels on rocks and intertidal muddy sandflats (an unvegetated muddy sandy soil type will be used in this project).
- Objective 4: Determining changes in sediment properties of the shellfish beds. Muddy sandy shores, the habitats of infaunal bivalves, can be modified by changes in wave and current patterns, especially those due to extreme future conditions.
- Objective 5: Mesocosm experiments to analyze the effect of the changes determined in Objectives 1, 2, 3 and 4.
- Objective 6: Create mechanistic models from the information provided in the previous objectives to determine which areas inside the Rías Baixas can become less viable in the future for the production of bivalves.
- Objective 7: Analyze the socio-economic vulnerability, adaptive capacity and resilience of shellfishing activities facing climate change impacts.
- Objective 8: Dissemination.