New Copernicus capability for trophic ocean networks

General Information

The ocean’s biodiversity supports the livelihoods of over three billion people, providing vital services, including food and nutrient cycling. However marine policy and resource management do not yet consider the latest scientific advances, even when the state-of-the-art operational models of the European Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) are used. Our objective is to enable CMEMS to deliver novel products that inform marine biodiversity conservation and food resources management, by fusing new data into innovative ecosystem models that integrate biological and abiotic components, habitats, and stressors of marine ecosystems. NECCTON will interlink new models in the CMEMS systems, thus building novel capacities to simulate higher trophic levels, benthic habitats, pollutants, and deliver projections of climate change impacts. We will develop and exploit new data-processing chains, supporting CMEMS' use of novel ecosystem observations, including new hyperspectral data from satellites, as well as available acoustic, pollution and omics data. We will fuse these new data and models by using innovative machine-learning algorithms to improve models and data assimilation methods. These developments will be applied in thirteen case studies, co-designed with fisheries and conservation managers as part of our pathway-to-impact, resulting in the demonstration of Technological Readiness Level 6 of NECCTON products.
The project objectives will be achieved by a team of twenty-three world-class organizations with track records for all the key project components. It includes the CMEMS Entrusted Entity and core developers, who will promote the final uptake of NECCTON by CMEMS. On project completion, NECCTON will provide CMEMS with the scientific and technical capabilities to sustain twenty-five new products in their operational portfolio, ultimately enabling users to make informed decisions on the exploitation of marine services, enhancing sustainability and conservation.

Hereon will contribute to the development of novel products for several compartments of the marine ecosystem. This includes the development of a blueprint model for Higher Trophic Level (HTL) fish production applicable in several regional ecosystems, a new parameterization for fish migration using machine-learning algorithms, the understanding of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) dynamics with help of hydrodynamic, wind wave and SPM modelling and the transport modelling of emerging organic contaminants.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-41
Project Type	Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
Contract Number	Grant Agreement 101081273
Co-ordinator	Mercator Ocean (FR)

Funding for the Project (€)	Funding for Hereon (€)
8,527,588	791,212

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Ute Daewel, Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling, Department Matter Transport and Ecosystem Dynamics (KST), Phone: +49 4152 87 2821; and Dr. Zhiyong Xie, Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry, Department Organic Environmental Chemistry (KUO), Phone: +49 4152 87 2330 E-mail contact

Participants

Bolding & Bruggeman APS (DK), Bundesamt für Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie (DE), Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici SCARL (IT), CNRS (FR), Collecte Localisation Satellites SA (FR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche (IT), ECOPATH International Iniative Acociacion (ES), Hellenic Center for Marine Reearch (GR), IMAR - Instituto Do Mar (PT), Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer IFREMER (FR), Istituto Nazionale Di Oceanografia E Di Geofisica Sperimentale Ogs (IT), Lobelia Earth SL (ES), Marine INnovation Depollution & Services (MINDS) Technologies and Environmental Sciences (IT), Mercator Ocean (FR), Met Office (UK), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK), Stichting Nederlandse Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Instituten (NL), Stiftelsen Nansen Senter for Fjernmaaling (NO), Technical University of Denmark (DK), Université de Liège (BE), Universite Sorbonne (FR), Utrecht University (NL)

Last Update: 03. February 2023