Past Projects
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Project Acronym: CE2COAST Project Title: Downscaling Climate and Ocean Change to Services: Thresholds and Opportunities |
Funding Programme: JPI Climate & JPI Oceans (Joint Transnational Call on Next Generation Climate Science in Europe for Oceans) Total Budget: €8.6m Duration: September 2020 – August 2023 No. of Partners: 12 (Norway, Belgium, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, France) Coordinator: Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway Website: www.ce2coast.com
Project Aim
CE2COAST aims to deliver estimates of natural and forced variability of oceanic processes as well as regional and local mean states and trends of pressures on ocean services, through the collection and analysis of observational and modelling data. Human-made global change will have significant impacts at regional and coastal scales on marine systems, dependent socio-economic systems and ocean services; affecting fishing, pollution, and eutrophication. A capacity to understand and predict these impacts on regional seas and coasts is essential for developing robust strategies for adaptation and mitigation.
To combat the consequences of ocean change, CE2COAST will pursue strategic coherence of national observation strategies, where collective learning and slipstreaming leads to faster progress, using dynamical downscaling methodology, to ultimately deliver an integrated European evaluation of marine health and challenges. CE2COAST has the potential to contribute science-based knowledge for the alleviation of economic, scientific and social disparity across Europe.
The Marine Institute's ocean modelling team is mainly collaborating on work packages 2 and 3, which will deliver the evaluation of the Earth System Models at a regional scale around Ireland and the downscaling of past changes and climate projections for the Western Irish Shelf. This downscaling will comprise of both hydrodynamics and biogeochemical cycling, including the carbonate system for the purpose of analysing ocean pressures, e.g. warming, deoxygenation; and for developing climate services for stakeholders, e.g. in aquaculture and fisheries sectors.
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Project Acronym: EuroSea Project Title: Improving and Integrating European Ocean Observing and Forecasting Systems for Sustainable use of the Oceans |
Funding Programme: Horizon 2020 Total Budget: €12.6 million Start/End Date: November 2019 – December 2023 No. of Partners: 55 (Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Norway, United Kingdom, Poland, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Estonia, Brazil, and Canada) Coordinator: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Website: https://www.eurosea.eu/
Project Aim
The EuroSea project aims to improve ocean observations in Europe by combining existing capacities and filling current knowledge gaps. As well as improving ocean measurements, EuroSea focuses on the quality and usability of collective data and development of downstream services for society.
The Marine Institute will be leading an area of the EuroSea project which involves working with users in aquaculture, fisheries, and environmental agencies to co-create products that help identify and foresee Extreme Marine Events. These Extreme Marine Events may be low oxygen levels and marine heat waves that can threaten marine ecosystems, resources, food security and related businesses. The Marine Institute also will be developing data products and services using numerical models in Irish waters, which will be combined with biological datasets provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Institute will also support the establishment of an integrated European Tide Gauge Network, which will include the existing Irish Tide Gauge Network. In addition, the Institute will be involved in a task to ensure the use of results beyond the project lifetime in order to maximise the impact of EuroSea.
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Project Acronym: FORCOAST Project Title: Earth Observation services for wild fisheries, oyster ground restoration and bivalve mariculture along European coasts |
Funding Programme: Horizon 2020 Total Budget: €2.28 million Duration: November 2019 – April 2022 No. of Partners: 21 (Belgian, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Coordinator: Stichting Deltares, Netherlands Website: www.forcoast.eu
Project Aim
The FORCOAST project is funded under the H2020 space call, which seeks to foster market development exploiting the value of Copernicus Earth Observation Products. FORCOAST aims to provide information services that offer high resolution water quality and met-ocean indicators in coastal and nearshore areas, to improve operation, planning and management of different marine activities in the sectors of wild fisheries, oystergrounds restoration, and bivalve mariculture. FORCOAST information products and services will be co-designed with stakeholders, thereby ensuring that these products and services are tailored to meet their needs.
The Marine Institute’s main role is to develop ocean modelling services in support of native oyster restoration and bivalve mariculture in inner Galway Bay. The existing numerical model “Connemara” will be downscaled further to provide high resolution coverage of the pilot site. Further datasets from Copernicus, ESA, EUMETSAT and local in-situ measurements will be collated and included in the online platform along with the model outputs. The Marine Institute works closely with Cuan Beo, a local NGO, and will work with other stakeholders to define the requirements and co-develop this service. The parameters of interest include forecasts of physical (e.g. temperature and salinity), biogeochemical (e.g. chlorophyll) and water quality (e.g. coliforms) parameters.
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Project Acronym: MyCOAST Project Title: Coordinated Atlantic coastal operational oceanographic observatory |
Funding Programme: Interreg Atlantic Area Total Budget: €2,998,954 Duration: November 2017 – July 2020 (extended to June 2021) No. of Partners: 22 Partners (Belgium, France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, UK). Coordinator: Fundación AZTI – AZTI Fundazioa (AZTI) Website: www.mycoast-project.org
Project Aim
The objective of MyCOAST is to build a coordinated Atlantic Coastal Operational Observatory in the Atlantic area by enhancing cooperation in the Atlantic region with the aim to improve coastal monitoring and forecasting tools to support threat and emergency response. The contribution of MyCOAST is fully aligned with the long-term initiative to establish a sustainable European Ocean Observation System (EOOS) to foster Europe’s ocean observing capacity.
The Marine Institute will lead Work Package 7 Development of Coastal Risk Tools.
MyCOAST is funded by the INTERREG Atlantic Area European Transnational Cooperation Programme.
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Project Acronym: CleanAtlantic Project Title: Tackling marine litter in the Atlantic area |
Funding Programme: Interreg Atlantic Area. Total Budget: €3,249,241 Duration: September 2017 – August 2020 (extended to September 2021) No. of Partners: 18 Partners (France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, UK) Coordinator: Centro Tecnológico del Mar - Fundación (CETMAR) Website: http://www.cleanatlantic.eu/
Project Aim
The aim of the CleanAtlantic project is to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic area by improving the capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter. It also aims to raise awareness and improve marine litter managing systems which will help manage and assist the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) implementation.
The Marine Institute will participate in a number of work packages including the mapping and modelling of marine litter to develop sub regional or regional maps of hotspots of floating litter based on the circulation of floating masses of marine litter; collaborating with marine stakeholders to develop best practices to reduce the presence of marine litter in the Atlantic area; and raising awareness with local and regional stakeholders about the sources, impacts and solutions for marine litter.
This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme.
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Project Acronym: iFADO Project Title: Innovation in the framework of the Atlantic deep ocean |
Funding Programme: Interreg Atlantic Area Total Budget: €3,632,635 Duration: November 2017 – November 2021 No. of Partners: 20 Partners (France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, UK). Coordinator: Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal. Website: https://www.ifado.eu/
Project Aim
The iFADO project aims to create marine services at regional and subregional scale using the EU Atlantic Waters as case study. By filling current technical gaps, iFADO would use the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) implementation to demonstrate the application of innovative products. The project will combine traditional monitoring with cost-effective, state-of-the-art technologies: remote sensing, numerical modelling and emerging observation platforms such as gliders and oceanic buoys.
The Marine Institute will coordinate Work Package 7 which covers numerical modelling.
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Project Acronym: CoCliME Project Title: Co-development of CLimate services for adaptation to changing Marine Ecosystem |
Funding Programme: ERA4CS Total Budget: €4.6m Duration: September 2017 – August 2020 No. of Partners: 11 partners from 7 countries (Ireland, France, Germany, Norway, Romania, Spain and Sweden) Coordinator: Marine Institute, Ireland Website: www.coclime.eu
Project Aim
The CoCliME project will co-develop and co-produce bespoke, proof-of-concepts or prototype marine ecosystem climate services and a transferable framework for climate services development, to support informed decision making relevant to climate change-related ecological and socio-economic impacts across different coastal regions. To achieve these objectives the newly established CoCliME consortium brings together a transdisciplinary team of natural and social scientists, decision makers, and users of climate services that will dynamically interact to identify common and priority climate change-related vulnerabilities and solutions in six European coastal areas (Atlantic, Baltic, Black, Mediterranean, North and Norwegian Seas case studies). In these areas, CoCliME will focus on coastal ecosystem status indicators (e.g. harmful algal blooms, marine biotoxins and pathogens, marine microbial biodiversity) that can be markedly influenced by climate change and have direct impacts on human health (food-borne poisoning and water-quality related health disorders), economic prosperity (fisheries, aquaculture, tourism) and social wellbeing (recreation).
From the very start a co-production and co-development approach to climate services will identify the information and knowledge needs of decision makers and users, and facilitate and accelerate local, national and European decision making concerning adaptation to climate change impacts. This marine ecosystem climate service framework will feed into mechanisms such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Marine Spatial Planning, national monitoring and reporting requirements, and climate adaptation planning to ensure the protection and sustainable use of Europe´s marine and coastal ecosystems for future generations.
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Project Acronym: COMPASS Project Title: Collaborative Oceanography and Monitoring for Protected Areas and SpecieS |
Funding Programme: Interreg VA Total Budget: €7.7m Duration: January 2017 – March 2022 No. of Partners: 5 partners (Ireland, Northern Ireland & Scotland) Coordinator: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) Website: www.compass-oceanscience.eu
Project Aim
The COMPASS project will deliver the first fully coherent network of monitoring buoys across the regional seas of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and West Scotland. Integrating the longest continuously maintained oceanographic monitoring stations in Europe (e.g. Tiree mooring & Western Irish Sea) within a network of new buoys equipped with oceanographic sensors, acoustic recorders and advanced fish tracking technology, this exciting and innovative project will build the cross-border capacity for effective monitoring and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The project will develop long-term monitoring strategies for highly mobile protected species such as marine mammals and salmonids, and provide essential infrastructure for baseline oceanographic and ambient noise monitoring. The development of observational and data management capacity across the region will be complemented by the delivery of three truly regional scale environmental models designed to support the management of a cross-border MPA network. These models will link established modelling platforms between UK and Irish programmes at spatially relevant scales. In addition to delivering the COMPASS buoy network and infrastructure legacy, the project process itself will also consolidate the internationally recognised but currently disparate partner skills to build a truly inter-regional unit of expertise.
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Project Acronym: AtlantOS Project Title: Optimising and Enhancing the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing Systems |
Funding Programme: Horizon 2020 Total Budget: €20.65 million Duration: April 2015 – June 2019 No. of Partners: 62 partners from 18 countries (13 EU & 5 non-EU). Coordinator: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany - Prof. Martin Visbeck Website: www.atlantos-h2020.eu
Project Aim
The main objective of AtlantOS is to improve and innovate existing Atlantic observing by defining, establishing and supporting an Atlantic Ocean Observing System which will be more sustainable, more efficient, more integrated and a fit-for-purpose framework for Atlantic observation. It will strengthen the contribution to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as the ocean component of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
It will build on the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation signed in 2013 by the EU, Canada and the US, launching a Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance to enhance collaboration to better understand the Atlantic Ocean and sustainably manage and use its resources.
Within the AtlantOS project the Marine Institute will contribute to the development of a strategy for Atlantic Ocean Observing (WP1), the integration of coastal and open ocean measurements (WP4), the demonstration of services in the GEO societal benefit areas (WP8), System evaluation and sustainability (WP9) and Engagement, Dissemination and Communication (WP10). The Institute is also co-Principal Investigator for WP8.