Within the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program (GMES) and its Marine Service Fast Track , the European community consolidates past efforts in pre-operational ocean monitoring and forecasting capacity in Europe developped through precursor European projects as MERSEA, BOSS4GMES, GSE MARCOAST and POLARVIEW and more recently with the MyOcean project (April 2009-March2012)
 

The main objective of the MyOcean2 project is to deliver and operate a rigorous, robust and sustainable Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting system of the GMES Marine Service (OMF/GMS) to users for all marine applications : maritime safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment and climate, seasonal and weather forecasting.

In the period from April 2012 to September 2014, MyOcean2 will ensure a controlled continuation and extension of the services and systems already implemented in MyOcean, a previous FP7-funded project ( April 2009- March 2012) that has advanced the pre-operational marine service capabilities by conducting the necessary research and development.

To enable the move to full operations as of 2014, MyOcean2 is targeting the prototype operations, and developing the necessary management and coordination environment to provide GMES users with continuous access to the GMES service products, as well as the interfaces necessary to benefit from independent R&D activities.

MyOcean2 produces and delivers services based on the common-denominator ocean state variables that are required to help meet the needs for information of those responsible for environmental and civil security policy making, assessment and implementation.

The MyOcean2 marine service consists of the following activities:

• Data acquisition from the ground segment of the space-based observation systems and in situ networks;
• Acquisition of atmospheric forcing data (winds, temperatures, fluxes) from National Meteorological Services and ECMWF;
• Compilation of these data into quality-controlled datasets at Thematic Data Assembly Centres (sea surface temperature, ocean color, sea level, sea ice, surface winds and fluxes, and in-situ data) suitable for the generation of more extensive data sets for subsequent use, analytical products and assimilation by ocean models.
• Running numerical ocean models in near real time to assimilate thematic data and generate analyses and forecasts to an agreed and generally perpetually repeating cycle. The monitoring and Forecasting Centres operate regional (Arctic, Baltic, North West shelf, Irish-Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea) and global models. The centres will also operate offline to produce reanalysis /hindcasts.
• Preparation and delivery of products suitable for external service provision.
• Preparation phase to a fully operational service as from 2014 end.

The GMES Marine Fast-Track Service chain and its Ocean Monitoring & Forecasting (OMF) component.

 MyOcean is a user-driven service committed to excellence

1. USERS

By March 2012, MyOcean counted yet more than a thousand users.

MyOcean2 aims at providing a sustainable service for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting validated and commissioned by users. The MyOcean information includes observations, analysis, reanalysis and forecasts describing the physical state of the ocean and its primary biogeochemical parameters. It also contributes to research on climate by providing long time-series of reanalysed parameters. MyOcean’s products & services therefore bring added-value to European organisations in charge of Ocean-related issues, public and private organisations within the Member States (Meteorological Agencies, Ocean centres, Environmental Agencies, Research Centres, Navies, Coast guards …), commercial service providers, and intergovernmental bodies in charge of Ocean protection. When MyOcean Users are themselves service providers (also called “intermediate users”), they deliver a service to end-users and run downstream services in all application areas.

2. A PAN-EUROPEAN ORGANISATION and AN INTEGRATED CAPACITY

MyOcean proposes a first model of governance for a Marine Service organisation while also preparing a long-term roadmap to the future GMES Marine Service. By including major European centres involved in operational ocean monitoring & forecasting, by involving users from day one and by fostering scientific excellence, MyOcean coordinates the effort to avoid duplication through an integrated pan-European capacity for ocean monitoring and forecasting.

Up to now, European member states have built their own capacities in operational oceanography, at global or regional scales, but the organisations, processes and levels of operationality vary from one state to another. In that sense, MyOcean has built a “system of systems”. By setting up robust and sustainable production and service infrastructures, MyOcean benefits from economies of scales.
 

3 . MyOCEAN2 CHALLENGES

To achieve these ambitious objectives, MyOcean2 adresses the following challenges:

• To avoid resources overlaps.
• To make interoperable European sub-systems.
• To harmonise operational processes and quality standards qualification among production centres.
• To make this organisation reliable, robust, sustainable and compliant with the highest European services.
• To bring value to ocean-related users and marine service providers on duty at regional, national or European levels