Management of marine ecosystems requires spatial information on current impacts. In several marine regions, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, legal mandates and agreements to implement ecosystem-based management and spatial plans provide new opportunities to balance uses and protection of marine ecosystems. Analyses of the intensity and distribution of cumulative impacts of human activities directly connected to the ecological goals of these policy efforts are critically needed. Quantification and mapping of the cumulative impact of 22 drivers to 17 marine ecosystems reveals that 20% of the entire basin and 60–99% of the territorial waters of EU member states are heavily impacted, with high human impact occurring in all ecoregions and territorial waters. Less than 1% of these regions are relatively unaffected. This high impact results from multiple drivers, rather than one individual use or stressor, with climatic drivers (increasing temperature and UV, and acidification), demersal fishing, ship traffic, and, in coastal areas, pollution from land accounting for a majority of cumulative impacts. These results show that coordinated management of key areas and activities could significantly improve the condition of these marine ecosystems.

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The seasonal and interannual variability of coastal upwelling in the northwest African upwelling area for the period from 1981 to 1991 has been investigated using remote sensing data of sea surface temperature (SST) and wind data. Approximately 3400 individual SST images have been generated from National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Global Area Coverage data and resampled to form a coherent cloud‐free data set. From the satellite data set an SST upwelling index defined as the zonal temperature difference has been derived as a function of latitude and time. Wind data from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts have been used to determine a second upwelling index calculated as the fraction of the Ekman transport perpendicular to the coast. The two independent indices have been compared with previously published data of seasonal variability and have been examined for interannual variabilities. In general the two upwelling indices demonstrate the known seasonal variability which exists south of 20°N and north of 25°N and the almost permanent upwelling between 20°N and 25°N. Off Portugal and Cape Ghir, there are temporal shifts between the maximum winds and the maximum zonal temperature differences of 2 and 3 months, respectively, while at most other locations the indices are temporally well correlated. Interannual variabilities are greater where upwelling is seasonal compared to those regions where upwelling is dominant throughout the year. The strongest interannual variabilities are found south of 20°N where upwelling was particularly weak during the period from the end of 1982 to the beginning of 1984, coinciding with the exceptionally strong 1982/1983 El Niño in the Pacific Ocean.

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Satellite observations from indicate that in the last 2 decades the temperature in the upper layer of the Mediterranean Sea has been increasing at an average (± SD) rate of 0.03 ± 0.008°C yr -1 for the western basin and 0.05 ± 0.009°C yr -1 for the eastern basin. The increases in temperature are not constant throughout the year but occur primarily during May, June and July.