Better access to ocean data
To date, EU Member States have developed their own capacities in operational oceanography, at global or regional scales. Scientists aim to create a pan-European system to include observations, analysis and forecasts describing the physical state of the ocean and its primary biogeochemical parameters. A service developed within the EU-funded project MYOCEAN (Development and pre-operational validation of upgraded GMES marine core services and capabilities) will provide reference information on the physical state of the ocean. These data points include temperature, salinity, currents, ice extent, sea level and primary ecosystems, available anywhere on the globe, anytime and to anyone. The service has brought added value to European organisations in charge of ocean-related issues, and public and private organisations in Member States. These include meteorological agencies, ocean centres, environmental agencies, research centres, navies and coast guards, commercial service providers and intergovernmental bodies in charge of ocean protection. The service is free and it offers open access. MYOCEAN has created a system that provides information at global and European regional scales from satellite and in situ observations in real time and over long time periods. The team developed the system so that ocean variables such as currents, temperature and salinity can be accessed through 240 core products. Researchers developed the MYOCEAN system of systems that integrates with other production centres through the Central Information System, ultimately pushing data to users. To provide users with reliable information, MYOCEAN stringently standardised data product quality. The team prioritised a user-driven system by giving high priority to user interactions at each level of development and operational phases. MYOCEAN continues to monitor user interactions and collect feedback through user surveys and specific user forums. MYOCEAN realised its objective to offer open and free access to a unified catalogue of products and services, based on an integrated system of systems. As a result of MYOCEAN, European operational agencies have signed 1 000 service-level agreements regarding ocean data use. Application of the services will be particularly useful in fields such as marine resources management, climate change, and coastal activities and ecosystems.
Keywords
Ocean data, oceanography, MYOCEAN, ecosystems, marine resources
