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LONG TERM OBSERVATIONS
OF THE OPEN OCEAN
FROM SEA SURFACE
TO SUB-SEAFLOOR
T
he European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and watercolumn Observatory (EMSO) is a large scale, distributed, marine Research Infrastructure (RI).
EMSO consists of ocean observation systems for long-term,
high-resolution, (near) real-time monitoring of environmental processes including natural hazards, climate
change, and marine ecosystems. EMSO observatory nodes
have been deployed at key sites around Europe, from the
Arctic to the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean, to the
Black Sea.
Continuous monitoring of the deep ocean is a highly challenging objective that can be compared only with the exploration of outer space. One must be able to
accommodate a multitude of scientific objectives in a single infrastructure, and address a very large and diverse user
community including biologists, geoscientists, chemists,
and engineers.
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WHY OBSERVE
THE OCEAN?
TO
INCREASE KNOWLEDGE
AND ADAPT TO CHANGE
T
he ocean covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, is home
to nearly 50% of its species, provides over 90% of the living space, and plays a pivotal role in influencing our climate. Despite this dominance of our Planet, only 5% of our
ocean has been explored to date. Hazards such as earthquakes,
tsunamis, and underwater volcanoes are all generated through
seafloor processes. Human life is dependent on our ocean. The
ocean reacts intensely to global changes. At the same time, it is
a major driver of climate change because of its role as a CO2 regulator and the main water reservoir. Its significance is not only
regional, it is global. Yet the ocean remains the last frontier of exploration on Earth.
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SHEDDING LIGHT ON
COMPLEX EARTH-OCEAN
SYSTEMS
U
nderstanding processes in the marine environment is key
to addressing complex present-day challenges, such as
impacts of climate change, preservation of marine ecosystems, and mitigation of natural hazards. The establishment
of fixed point, open ocean observatories is essential to investigate global earth-ocean processes. EMSO will provide reliable,
science-based information to decision makers which will allow
them to develop appropriate evidence-based policies in the face
of these challenges.
Just by looking at images of Earth from space, it's clear that
the ocean is a significant piece of the Earth's story.
70%
50%
90%
of Earth’s
surface
of Earth's
species
of Earth's
living space
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CURRENT STATUS
AND HISTORY
E
leven deep-sea sites plus 4 shallow water test sites
have been identified to host nodes of underwater infrastructure by the European scientific community involved in EMSO. Some of these nodes already have ongoing
operations, including cabled and stand-alone sites, with moorings and benthic instruments communicating in real-time or
delayed mode; the remaining nodes are at an earlier stage of
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deep
sea
sites
4
shallow
water test
sites
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development. The Preparatory Phase of EMSO, a project funded within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the
European Commission, was coordinated by Italy. The transition between the end of the FP7 project and the launch of the
European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) is managed by an Interim Office, hosted at the premises of the Istituto
Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Italy.
WHAT ARE OCEAN
OBSERVATORIES?
O
cean observatories are sources of interdisciplinary ocean
data across time and space.
Ocean observatories provide power and
communication connections for sensors
to allow a sustained interactive presence
in the Ocean. Sensor systems can either
be attached to a cable, which provides
power and enables data transfer, or they
can operate as independent, standalone benthic and moored sensor platforms. Data, in both cases, can be
transmitted in real time either through
fibre-optic cables or through cable and
acoustic networks that are connected to
satellite-linked buoys, back to shore
data centres and the Internet.
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THE CHALLENGE
WITH DATA
H
igh-resolution observations, from
geographically distributed sites,
over extended periods of time,
produce large quantities of diverse data.
This vast flow of information will be made
available to scientists and other stakeholders through an open access model. Making data discoverable, accessible, and
interoperable is a challenging task that the
EMSO community is currently addressing
through existing initiatives such as EMODNET (European Marine Observation and
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Data Network), proposed by the EU in its
Green Paper on maritime policy, and the
SEADATANET project, a federation of open
digital repositories managing, archiving, accessing and sharing data, information, products and knowledge originating from marine
observations.
EMSO will comply with principles of data quality and standardisation set out through these
initiatives so that the data produced will quickly and effectively be available to the science
community and to policy makers.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC
BENEFITS
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Incresing
innovation
I
Developing
high-tech industries
nvestments in Research Infrastructures (RIs) have the potential
to provide short-medium term
economic impact through: immediate,
high quality inputs to relevant industries; an increase in innovation and
Attracting the best
science and technogy
technology; an ability to attract the
very best science and technology researchers, engineers and technicians;
and, in the longer term, an ability to attract and develop high-tech competitive industries.
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T
here is a growing awareness of the impact that the health
of the open-ocean environment and deep-sea have on
human society. Pollution, habitat degradation, over-fishing, climate change, and invasive species emerge repeatedly
as major issues of concern. These threats interact with each other,
damaging natural ecosystems, reducing productivity, and diminishing biological and economic diversity.
The role of open ocean observatories is to assess and mitigate
the effects of these threats by providing accurate and timely information. European observatory infrastructure is providing the
capacity to align with the USA, Canada, and Japan to provide
these services.
Human life is dependent
on our oceans.
They play a pivotal role in
influencing our climate
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T
We can’t have a healthy planet
without healthy oceans
he socio-economic interest in marine safety is directly related to transportation, pollution, search
and rescue, and minimizing consequences of natural hazards, all of which require specific observations
from the oceans. EMSO will provide key scientific data
that are especially important for monitoring geo-hazards
and pollution in areas of dense maritime traffic.
In such cases observatory time-series data will inform
ship owners, port authorities, local authorities and insurance companies.
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W
ith the establishment of EMSO an intense involvement of European Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs), as well as large companies, is expected. The
indirect effects extend beyond the original objectives and include
academic and scientific information, technological innovation, networking opportunities, standardisation and interoperability methods, modes of management, and the availability of a critical mass
of scientists and engineers.
The timing is appropriate to initiate the European partnership that
will deliver deep-ocean observation services to government agencies and industry in Europe and collaborate with initiatives from
the USA, Canada, and Japan to deliver services to Africa, South
America, and the Asia/Pacific Region.
EMSO effects:
scientific information
networking opportunities
interoperabiliy methods
modes of management
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EMSO SITES
OCEAN NETWORKS CANADA
OOI - UNITED STATES
ECSSOS - CHINA
MA
IMOS - AUSTRAL
EMSO Sites Description
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DONET - JAPAN
ACHO - TAIWAN
IA
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CURRENT PARTNERS OF EMSO
CSIC Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Spain)
CNRS Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France)
GEOECOMAR Institutul National de Cercetare – Dezvoltare
pentru Geologie si Geoecologie Marina (Romania)
ITU-EMCOL Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Eastern Mediterranean
Centre for Oceanography and Limnology (Turkey)
KDM Konsortium Deutsche Meeresforschung e.V. (Germany)
NIOZ Stichting Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonder-
HCMR Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece)
IFREMER Institut Français de Recherche pour l’exploitation
NOCS National Oceanography Centre Southampton (United
de la mer (France)
Kingdom)
IMI Marine Institute (Ireland)
INGV Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy, LEAD)
IPMA Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (Portugal)
UGOT Goteborgs Universitet (Sweden)
UIT University of Tromsø (Norway)
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zoek (The Netherlands)
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©2015 EMSO - European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory
www.emso-eu.org
EMSO Interim Office | Via di Vigna Murata, 605 | 00143 Rome, Italy | Tel. +39 06 51860428 | Fax +39 06 51860338 |
email: [email protected]
/emso.eu
@EMSOeu