The Black Sea ecosystem is a unique marine environment. Its isolation from the ocean and large catchment basin, covering industrial and rural parts of the European and Asian continents, render the Black Sea ecosystem extremely vulnerable to the imposed environmental burdens Complex scientific problems related to the recent evolution of the Black Sea ecosystem were tackled in the framework of the NATO TU BLACK SEA project `Ecosystem modelling as a management tool for the Black Sea', implemented between 1993 and 1997.
The primary results and the products of the TU BLACK SEA project were presented to the scientific community at a dedicated symposium held on 15-19 June, 1997 at Zori Rossii on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea. The present two volumes contain 47 of the papers presented at the symposium, selected by peer review. Volume I contains 27 papers in all, two on the NATO TU Black SEA database and database management system, eight on the Black Sea biogeochemistry, and 17 on the biological structure of the basin. Of the 20 papers appearing in Volume II, nine are physical processes and 11 are on the modelling of the circulation and the ecosystems of the Black Sea.