Work Packages and Deliverables

IST, as lead partner, will manage the project with the support of a Steering Committee (SC) and Advisory Board (AB). IST will appoint a Project Manager (PM), a Project Coordinator (PC) and a Financial Manager (FM). The PM will be responsible for the overall project and will be the President of the SC. The PC will undertake daily coordination and implement SC decisions. The FM will prepare financial reports and provide financial support to partners. IST (though the PM) will link with the Atlantic Area Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) and will provide guidance to partners. An intranet and reporting templates will be created to facilitate the exchange of information within the consortium. The SC will comprise WP Leaders and meet every 6 months. The SC will assess activities, reports and financial claims, ensuring that the work is achieved on time and accomplishes indicators. The PM will prepare the meeging agenda. Extraordinary meetings will be convened by the PM or by any 2 members of the SC. The AB will be chaired by PM, comprise associated partners and other key End-users proposed by the AB itself or by SC, and will meet yearly after project workshops. The AB will act as (i) advisor to the project, helping the consortium on the definition of the final products and (ii) facilitator towards other potential users of project results. Project meetings will be held every 6 months with sessions per WP

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The overall objective of the communication and dissemination plan is to gather feedback from potential users, paving the way for a realistic capitalisation strategy for the results after the project and to gather existing data relevant for project implementation. Communication & Dissemination has 5 main targets: (1) institutions involved in activities affecting or affected by the Marine Environment; (2) institutions owning data relevant for the implementation of the project and thus for the implementation of the MSFD; (3) scientific peers; (4) potential users of the technologies developed in this project; and (5) the general society. Each target group requires specific language, strategy and supporting materials, including a webpage, leaflets, newsletters, videos, scientific papers and technical reports and a product catalogue. The webpage is a major component of the dissemination. It will be the repository of all materials produced in the project. Leaflets will be produced at an early stage and newsletters will be produced every 6-months. A video will be produced in the 4th semester. Scientific papers will be published in scientific journals; technical reports will reach to potential end-users and data owners. Local workshops will be organized in every country, with a final open workshop in Lisbon. This workshop will be widely publicized.

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All iFADO partners will participate in this WP and most are members of large international working groups that will assist project capitalisation. Governmental partners (DGRM, DEFRA, DRAM, DROTA, MAGRAMA, AFB and DPHLG) will enable project link at the EU and OSPAR level. Mercator Ocean (M-O) will enable the consortium to reach a larger number of users through CMEMS. iFADO full partners participate in international working groups such as ICES and EuroGOOS WG and in large H2020 projects (e.g. AtlantOS, FixoO3 and AORA) where they will be able to share methods, results and products generated at iFADO. As a ‘triple helix’ marine business Cluster, PMBA acts as an interface with industrial stakeholders to promote innovation through transfer of knowledge. In iFADO, PMBA’s role will be to inventory and identify key players able to develop or improve relevant technologies. iFADO project meetings will be strategically scheduled to allow partners to participate in major maritime technology and blue economy events where they could engage innovation companies to participate in the iFADO activities or to capitalize on iFADO products. Mercator Ocean will ease the distribution of project products to a wider audience through CMEMS. Institutions from both sides of the Atlantic (Canada, Germany, Morocco, Norway and USA) have shown their interest in the project . H2020 projects AtlantOS and AORA (LoS 05 and LoS 35) related to implementation of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation, have received with enthusiasm the iFADO strategy and support future collaboration. The citizen science communication strategy linked to an existing network wider than the AA will also spread the products beyond AA. Private companies participating as full partner, such as, NOVELTIS or interested in engaging with the project will apply the tools, sensors and instruments in other regions. The combination of international organisations and WG at the EU level and H2020 projects related to the Galway Statement, linking both sides of the Northern Atlantic, and the established link with EU neighbouring countries and companies from the AA and abroad, allow iFADO to attain outreach greater than the AA in the scientific, policy, citizen engagement and innovation areas.

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It is an obligation of MS to implement MFSD coordinated monitoring programmes that are compatible within marine regions or sub regions. Most MSFD monitoring is focused on coastal areas whereas iFADO focuses on the open ocean. Offshore areas are difficult to monitor and a joint action for coordinated monitoring of the offshore EEZ areas of different MS in the AA is missing. This WP will begin by assessing the coordination of MFD national monitoring plans in the AA and by harmonising methodologies between existing national sampling programmes. Data and methods will be provided to national agencies and attempts will be made to estimate cost-saving by integrating routine national and transnational field campaigns (act. 4). Novel methodologies for characterising plankton communities, already used by iFADO partners, will be demonstrated in transboundary and transatlantic cruises and at time series sites of iFADO partners in support of MSFD Descriptors 1 and 5. Support will be also given to SME’s aiming to test novel equipment in offshore deep waters.

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Existing ocean-observing capacities will be compiled in a common database with input from all involved partners in order to identify critical gaps that need to be filled, aiming for a more synergetic, cost-effective and sustainable operation model for the AA area. Enhancement and implementation of existing capacities for autonomous ocean-observing networks. Improvements on systematic and optimized in-situ ocean data collection, new sensor payloads and synergies with other observational systems, including remote sensing, will be undertaken, aiming for a more cost-effective and sustainable ocean observation strategy. The action will be organized along key objectives, in order to increase the spatio-temporal measurements coverage and data quality. Three study cases will be considered: (1) glider endurance line, (2) Ferrybox endurance line and (3) Open–ocean mooring. The action will deal with data and derived products from the operational network of in-situ platforms considered, using standard procedures in terms of formats, hosting, sharing, services, etc. in direct link with WP2, and with a special focus on real-time Apps.

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Remote Sensing (RS) is suitable for monitoring large areas and the Copernicus programme has huge investments from the EC. The novel Sentinel sensors are able to provide high resolution data (up to 10 m) opening new possibilities for oceanic monitoring. RS is however still limited by the parameters that can be measured and is restricted to surface, but combined with in situ measurements and modelling RS becomes a very powerful tool. It permits horizontal in situ data extrapolation and modelling permits vertical extrapolation of RS surface data. WP6 includes contribution of the users of the products, as is the case of IST and IPMA. The former will contribute to combine images and model results, relating parameters measured by the satellite with other parameters across the water column and the latter provides in- situ validation data. All actions will start at M1 and will run in parallel up to the end of the project, although novel EO products for MSFD monitoring will be provided to WP8 from M37 onwards.

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Modelling is a distributed task and all 5 WP partners will participate in all tasks in every action. Action 1 lead by MI will coordinate the whole WP and will synthetize the work plan to be carried by other Actions. The Work plan includes CMEMS downscaling for the regional level and simulation of the parameters necessary for MSFD implementation and subsequent downscaling from the regional model to local coastal areas. Useable models will be identified and where gaps exist, models will be developed for agreed domains. Typically, these will be sub-region models (of domain scale from 100-1500 km) nested within the CMEMS system. Metrics will be agreed for model validation. Model domains will ideally overlap for model-model intercomparisons. Model output parameters will be standardised between models (e.g. for sea level, vertical datum, or for nutrients, parameters of relevance to MSFD) and tools to simplify model implementation and validation will be developed for the whole consortium. Tools will be developed to compute indices required by MSFD directly from model outputs. The values obtained will be compared with in situ or RS values obtained for those indices, for validation and to understand differences. Downscaling for coastal systems will also be performed to build the bridge between the Copernicus Marine Service and the Land Service. This is important because there is no service in this area, but also because the anthropogenic pressures are highest there.

Deliverables:

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Modelling is a distributed task and all 5 WP partners will participate in all tasks in every action. Action 1 lead by MI will coordinate the whole WP and will synthetize the work plan to be carried by other Actions. The Work plan includes CMEMS downscaling for the regional level and simulation of the parameters necessary for MSFD implementation and subsequent downscaling from the regional model to local coastal areas. Useable models will be identified and where gaps exist, models will be developed for agreed domains. Typically, these will be sub-region models (of domain scale from 100-1500 km) nested within the CMEMS system. Metrics will be agreed for model validation. Model domains will ideally overlap for model-model intercomparisons. Model output parameters will be standardised between models (e.g. for sea level, vertical datum, or for nutrients, parameters of relevance to MSFD) and tools to simplify model implementation and validation will be developed for the whole consortium. Tools will be developed to compute indices required by MSFD directly from model outputs. The values obtained will be compared with in situ or RS values obtained for those indices, for validation and to understand differences. Downscaling for coastal systems will also be performed to build the bridge between the Copernicus Marine Service and the Land Service. This is important because there is no service in this area, but also because the anthropogenic pressures are highest there.

Deliverables:

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