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THOR addresses the call ”Stability of the ThermoHaline Circulation/THC” within the activity “Climate Change, Policy and Risks” of the EU framework-7 sheme for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013). The project is officially launched in December 2008 under the cooperation of 20 higher educational and research institutions in 9 European countries. The overall activities of the project are coordinated by Institution of Oceanography at University of Hamburg and will run at least till November 2012.

THOR stands for "Thermohaline Overturning – at Risk?", during the project life cycle THOR will establish an operational system that will monitor and forecast the development of the North Atlantic THC on decadal time scales and assess its stability and the risk of a breakdown in a changing climate. Through the assimilation of systematic oceanic observations at key locations into ocean circulation models it will provide a set of geo-observational products that will be used to forecast the development of the system using global coupled ocean-atmosphere models.