Malta and Sardinia join forces to track a warming sea

The Mediterranean Sea is changing, and some of the most important clues are being recorded quietly beneath the surface.

The University of Malta is coordinating the Mediterranean Initiative for Sea Temperature Research and Logging (MISTRAL), which brings together Maltese and Italian researchers to better understand how coastal sea temperatures are changing around Malta and Sardinia. The project is funded through the Xjenza Malta and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Joint Call for Research Proposals, under the Seed Grants for International Research Programme.

The project is led by Prof. Adam Gauci from the Oceanography Malta Research Group within the Department of Geosciences, with the support of Prof. Alan Deidun, Ms Audrey Zammit and Mr David Ramirez. The University of Malta team is working with colleagues from CNR-IAS in Oristano, Sardinia, strengthening an existing collaboration between the two islands.

The project began with a series of meetings in Sardinia, where researchers discussed how best to compare coastal temperature data from Malta and Italy. These discussions also built on the experience of MedSeaPOD, a citizen science initiative recognised in 2025 as an Action of the UN Ocean Decade.

Although sea temperature is often reported at the surface, many important changes happen below it. MISTRAL focuses on collecting high-resolution temperature data from coastal waters using underwater sensors placed at different depths. These instruments record how temperature changes throughout the water column, helping scientists study seasonal stratification, unusual warming events, and marine heatwaves.

This information is especially important in the Mediterranean, which is considered highly vulnerable to climate change. Warmer seas can affect marine ecosystems, fisheries, coastal communities, tourism, and the overall health of the marine environment. For islands such as Malta and Sardinia, the sea is not just distant background scenery. It is part of daily life, the economy, and cultural identity.

A key aim of MISTRAL is to ensure that data collected in Malta and Sardinia can be compared and shared more easily. The project will support common procedures for sensor calibration, data quality control, metadata preparation, and formatting. This will help make the results suitable for wider European marine data platforms such as EMODnet and SeaDataNet. By connecting local monitoring efforts across two Mediterranean islands, the project will help turn coastal observations into knowledge that can support climate research, environmental management, and future adaptation planning.

In a warming sea, every degree matters. MISTRAL is helping Malta and Sardinia measure those changes more clearly.