SmartBay underwater observatory to play a central role in the next phase of Europe’s Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO).

A new international study has proposed an operational strategy to advance the Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO) for European waters into an active, adaptive monitoring system. The SmartBay cabled underwater observatory, operated by the Marine Institute, already generates data for a digital twin of Galway Bay, and will play an important role in this development.

The Digital Twin of the Ocean is a digital representation of a specific marine area, designed to improve understanding of ocean conditions and the impacts of human activities for scientists, policymakers and the public. Advancing DTO is now a strategic priority for Europe, supported by European Commission investments under the EU Mission to Restore our Ocean and Waters.

DTO systems integrate many different types of data, including environmental measurements, citizen observations, fisheries data and scientific ocean surveys. Data from a given marine region are combined into a single spatio-temporal dataset, and tagged with metadata such as source platform or sensor, latitude, longitude and depth, and aligned in time.

“This approach allows us to track how key elements of marine ecosystems, such as species abundance and biomass, change over time in relation to other factors like oceanographic and meteorological conditions, and to analyse how these variables change,” explains Jacopo Aguzzi, Senior Researcher at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Spain, and lead author of the study.

Published in the journal Ecological Informatics, the study outlines how networks of fixed and mobile robotic platforms can collect and integrate data to support adaptive monitoring. This approach is already being implemented through the European Digi4Eco project (Digital Twin-sustained 4D ecological monitoring of restoration in fishery-depleted areas), funded by the European Commission.

Two cabled underwater observatories - OBSEA in Spain and SmartBay in Ireland - are providing continuous biological and environmental observations, demonstrating the value of combining long-term monitoring with advanced spatio-temporal modelling.

“Data collected by SmartBay’s cabled infrastructure, including high-resolution imaging and multi-parameter sensors, form the basis of a four-dimensional Digital Twin of Galway Bay,” says Paul Gaughan, Scientific and Technical Officer with the Marine Institute’s Research Infrastructures Team. “This enables real-time behavioural monitoring of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), supported by AI-driven spatio-temporal analysis to better understand ecological responses and support restoration in fishery-depleted areas.”

At the SmartBay site in Galway Bay, researchers are using autonomous imaging systems to study how individual Norway lobster interact with their burrows over time. These observations help track behavioural patterns and improve the precision of stock assessments, supporting more informed fisheries management.

Both SmartBay and OBSEA are part of EMSO ERIC (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water-column Observatories), a pan-European research infrastructure that integrates fixed observatories with mobile technologies such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), seabed crawlers and stand-alone landers, supported by research vessels to achieve wide spatial coverage.

“By linking Digital Twins across EMSO regional facilities, we strengthen data interoperability, predictive modelling and access to harmonised datasets, accelerating marine research and policy support at European scale,” adds Rick officer, CEO at the Marine Institute.

“Digital Twins are becoming essential for understanding how ecosystems respond to restoration measures and climate pressures,” says Professor Joaquín del Río, Director of the Development Center of Remote Acquisition and Information Processing Systems (SARTI) at UPC and coordinator of OBSEA. “Through Digi4Eco, OBSEA contributes long-term datasets and technology testbeds that help translate science into practical conservation action, while also driving new engineering solutions for intelligent and sustainable ocean observation systems.”