Gmesmarine Core Service IMP Reformatted Ims 2 Tc

7/31/2019 Gmesmarine Core Service IMP Reformatted Ims 2 Tc

1/102

GMES Fast Track

Marine Core Service

Strategic Implementation Plan*2010 update2010 update VVeerrssiioonn,,

16/04/201016/04/2010

Author:Hans Dahlin, Chairman

of the Marine Core Service Implementation Group

*DISCLAIMER : this is a working paper of the Implementation Group on GMES Land Monitoring. It does NOT represent the opinion of

the European Commission


2/102

Outlines

The objective of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) is to provide, on asustained basis, reliable and timely services related to environmental and security issues in

support of public policy makers needs. GMES is an EU-led initiative, in which ESA implements thespace component and the Commission manages actions for identifying and developing services,relying on both in-situ and space-borne remote sensing data. GMES will use, to the maximumextent possible, existing capacities in Member States or at European level.

The implementation is starting with three Fast Track Services (FTS) addressing Land Monitoring,Marine Monitoring and Emergency Response.

As announced in the Commission Communication in November 2005, the choice of these FTS has beendriven by (i) their technical maturity, (ii) their uptake by the user communities (relevance forpolicy making and policy implementation); and (iii) existing conditions for long-term sustainability ofdemand and supply.

After user consultation workshops organised in 2005, three Implementation Groups (IG),composed with representatives of the various user communities, were set up for these three FTS in2006.

In accordance with its terms of reference, each IG analyzed the main issues related to FTSimplementation, including the scope of the service and its potential evolution, its functionality andarchitecture, its main structure and governance principles, as well as its requirements regardingobservation infrastructure and data needs, data integration and information management issues.

The IG capitalised on previous and ongoing research activities financed under EC (FP6) and ESAschemes (GMES Service Element (GSE)).

The main outcomes of the IG analysis have been gathered in the enclosed ImplementationReports, which provide recommendations regarding the main FTS implementation issues based on theinitial scope of the service (or fast-track) as well as its evolution.

Special attention has been given to the functions and structuring of the FTS at European level.More specifically, the GMES services are structured around Core and Downstream servicelayers. Core services are pan-European in scope and generic in nature. More specialised

downstream services to meet the needs of a range of different users (e.g. national, regional orlocal) can be derived from them by further value-adding and customisation.

As a user-driven initiative, GMES should ensure a continuous user uptake through constantconsultation with users and integration of their changing needs in an iterative process.

In the short term, the analysis included in IG reports will be used as a basis for current R&D and

demonstration activities, in particular those that will be funded within the Space Theme of FP7. Inthe long-term, these reports will be fine-tuned through further interaction with user communitiesand consultation process and could contribute to the design of the overall GMES structure andgovernance.

Revised version following the comments from the GAC Delegations 1


3/102

GMES Fast Track Marine Core Service StrategicImplementationPlan 3

Contents

Outlines...........................................................................................................2Contents..........................................................................................................3Executive Summary..............................................................................................i

Executive Summary..............................................................................................i1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 2

Purpose, scope & functionality of the MCS...............................................................2Observational components of the MCS....................................................................4Implementation plan.........................................................................................5

Main guidelines.............................................................................................5Proposed strategy and application......................................................................5Architecture implementation............................................................................6Demonstration.............................................................................................7

MCS governance and related issues........................................................................7Selection of operators....................................................................................8Funding & Data Policy.....................................................................................8

Conclusion.....................................................................................................92 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1

2.1 will provide the common denominator data for all users in the marine sectorGMES ........... 12.2 Core Services .............................................................................................. 12.3 Downstream Sector ....................................................................................... 12.4 Marine Core Service ...................................................................................... 2

3 The purpose, scope and functionality of the MCS ......................................................... 53.1 Purpose ..................................................................................................... 53.2 The nature of the MCS ................................................................................... 63.3 The scope of the MCS and its rationale ................................................................ 93.4 At the present time it is entirely feasible, with useful accuracy, to describe The

requirements for delivering a marine core service ....................................................... 93.4.1 Computer models .................................................................................... 93.4.2 Computing facilities ................................................................................. 93.4.3 Observations ........................................................................................ 10

3.5 Geographical scope of marine core service ......................................................... 103.6 Marine Core Service Functionality .................................................................... 123.7 The concepts of upstream providers, intermediate users & and end users .................... 13

3.7.1 Upstream providers collectively comprise the ................................................ 133.7.2 Note that intermediate users .................................................................... 14

3.8 Simulations how to respond to What if? questions ............................................. 154 The required observational components .................................................................. 16

4.1 The required space infrastructure .................................................................... 16

4.2 The required in situ infrastructure ................................................................... 174.3 The Meteorological Forcing ............................................................................ 18

5 The Strategic Implementation Plan ........................................................................ 195.1 Principles and sources of guidance used ............................................................. 195.2 Foundations of the Marine Core Service ............................................................. 19

5.2.1 Existing infrastructure ............................................................................ 205.2.2 Relevant existing information services ......................................................... 215.2.3 Past and current R&D projects ................................................................... 22

5.3 The proposed strategy and its application .......................................................... 235.3.1 Architecture ........................................................................................ 235.3.2 Implementing the architecture .................................................................. 275.3.3 Prototype Architecture ............................................................................ 27

5.3.4 The space infrastructure .......................................................................... 305.3.5 The in situ infrastructure ......................................................................... 335.3.6 Data collection, assembly and quality control................................................. 35


4/102

5.3.7 Ocean modelling and data assimilation ......................................................... 385.3.8 Raw data ............................................................................................ 395.3.9 Service generation, access, delivery and support ............................................. 405.3.10 Standards .......................................................................................... 43

5.4 Funding & Data Policy .................................................................................. 445.5 Funding ................................................................................................... 45

5.5.1 Marine core service ................................................................................ 455.5.2 Downstream Services .............................................................................. 45

6 Governance and related issues ............................................................................. 476.1 EU procurement ......................................................................................... 476.2 Accountability & Management structures ........................................................... 47

6.2.1 Procurement or Grant ............................................................................. 476.2.2 Direct or devolved management ................................................................. 47

6.3 Consortium Structure ................................................................................... 496.4 Interactions with intermediate usersdownstream services ....................................... 506.5 Criteria for selecting operators and modification of the partnership ........................... 506.6 Conflicts of interest ..................................................................................... 51

7 Examples which test the suitability of the strategy in delivering specific end-to-end services inand beyond 2008 ................................................................................................ 52

7.1 In support of (the assumed) implementation of the Marine Environmental Strategy Directiveand other environmental protection policies. ........................................................... 52

7.1.1 Service requirements .............................................................................. 527.1.2 Specific product requirements ................................................................... 537.1.3 Observing system requirements .................................................................. 537.1.4 Relevant current coordinating organisations ................................................... 547.1.5 End-to-end services ................................................................................ 54

7.2 Ice Services .............................................................................................. 547.2.1 Context .............................................................................................. 547.2.2 Service requirements .............................................................................. 56

7.2.3 Specific product requirements ................................................................... 567.2.4 Observing system requirements .................................................................. 567.2.5 Relevant current coordinating organisations ................................................ 567.2.6 End-to-end services ................................................................................ 567.2.7 Benefits .............................................................................................. 57

7.3 Oil spill monitoring ...................................................................................... 577.3.1 Context .............................................................................................. 577.3.2 Service Requirements ............................................................................. 587.3.3 Specific Product Requirements .................................................................. 587.3.4 Observing System Requirements ................................................................. 587.3.5 Relevant Current Coordinating Organisations .................................................. 597.3.6 End-to-end services ................................................................................ 59

7.3.7 Benefits .............................................................................................. 59Appendices......................................................................................................60GMES Fast Track Service Implementation Groups: Terms of Reference and composition andworking methods of the Marine Core Service Implementation Group..................................61GMES Fast Track Service Implementation Groups: Terms of Reference and composition andworking methods of the Marine Core Service Implementation Group..................................61

Terms of Reference.........................................................................................61Composition & working methods of the Marine Core Service Implementation Group.............61

Characterisation of MCS variables & products.............................................................63Characterisation of MCS variables & products.............................................................63Adopted Report from the Working Group on Space Infrastructure for the GMES Marine CoreService...........................................................................................................65Adopted Report from the Working Group on Space Infrastructure for the GMES Marine CoreService...........................................................................................................65

Executive Summary.........................................................................................65


5/102


General recommendations:................................................................................65Specific recommendations:................................................................................65Introduction and mandate of the WG....................................................................66Main requirements from the MCS.........................................................................66A3.4. Review of Sentinel 3.................................................................................67

Overview of ESA Sentinel 3 MRD.......................................................................67

Altimetry..................................................................................................67SST..........................................................................................................68Ocean Colour..............................................................................................70

Recommendations for the Jason and METOP, MSG/MTG series and for non- European missionscomplementary to Sentinel-3..............................................................................73

Jason-3.....................................................................................................73Review of Sentinel 1 / SAR................................................................................73Other European and non-European SAR missions.......................................................76Ground Segment (to be developed later)................................................................76Summary of recommendations............................................................................76References...................................................................................................77

Adopted Report of the In situ Infrastructure Working Group............................................82Adopted Report of the In situ Infrastructure Working Group............................................82

Performance & deployment...............................................................................83Network design...........................................................................................83

Data collection & management...........................................................................84Timeliness.................................................................................................84Sustainability.............................................................................................85

Data management..........................................................................................85Quality control..............................................................................................86Standardisation..............................................................................................86


6/102


7/102

8

Executive Summary

To be rewritten


8/102

Page 2 GMES Fast Track Marine Core Service StrategicImplementationPlan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 Introduction

The fo rmativ e Wo rks hop which l ed to the acc ep tance o f the M arine Cor e Serv ice (MC S) as a GME SFas t Tr ack was held in Br uss el s on Octob er 27 - 28 2005. Subs eq uently a smal l Impl ementationGroup (IP ) was set up to s up erv ise and v al idate the implementatio n o f the Serv ice, in op en

coop eration with the rel ev ant user co mmunities. The Terms of Refer ence, co mpos ition andwo rking methods of the I G are reproduced at App end ix 1 to the repor t.

The main outp ut of the IG to date is this Strategi c Implementation Plan and the suppo rtingdo cuments generated by wor king gro ups set up by the IG, subseq uently appr ov ed, and eitherinco rporated into or attached as app end ices to the Pl an.

If end ors ed by the GMES Bureau and GME S Adv isory Council, the Pl an will p rov id e ratifiedguidel ines and prio ritis ation fo r impl ementation. In the s hor t term it is env isaged that it will guidecur rent R&D and demons tration activ ities being p urs ued with EC and ESA funding, in p articul arthos e that will b e fund ed within the Space Theme o f FP 7. Howev er, it is hop ed that the Pl an willalso prov ide a roadmap for a l ong - term, s us tainabl e M arine Cor e Service abl e to s uppor t a wid erange of do wns tream s erv ices , s ome o f which can be seen to day but many of which will only

emerge when the MC S is in plac e. With this in mind , an effo rt has b een mad e to d es cr ib e theratio nal e for the guidel ines and priorities , no t s imply the propos al s thems elves . It is hop ed thatthe Strategic I mpl ementation Pl an will giv e co nfidenc e to the EC and Memb er States that theirexp ectations of GMES in the marine domain have a good chance o f b eing ful filled and that theirc ontinued s uppor t is warranted.

Purpose, scope & functionality of the MCS

The Impl ementation Gro up in r epr es enting the requir ements o f user s has confir med that thepur pose of the Mar ine C ore Serv ice is to make availab le & del iv er a set of basic, generic serv icesbas ed upo n co mmon - d enominato r ocean s tate v ariabl es that are r eq uired to hel p meet the

need s for info rmation o f thos e res pons ibl e fo r env iro nmental and civ il s ecur ity pol icy making,ass essment and impl ementation.

The r el ev ant pol icy driv ers hav e b een identified as the Regio nal Conv entions , the 6thEnv ironmental Ac tion Pl an (in p articul ar its Cl imate Change and Marine E nv iro nmental Strategyco mponents ), the Sus tainabl e Dev elop ment imp erativ e no w b eing d ev elop ed thro ugh the GreenPap er on M aritime Polic y, rel ev ant existing EU Directiv es, and ongoing conc erns ov er civilsecurity.

All of these requir e l ong running data sets to define the mean, fl uctuations, and past trends in thestate o f the marine env iro nment to record its ev ol ution and the success o r otherwise of pol icyrespons es and , with pr edictions o f future change , to establ ish basel ines for effectiv eenv iro nmental management. Data reanal ys es, obtained through assimil ation by state o f the art

mod els, will be par ticul arl y hel pful in an er a of cl imate change. Such informatio n wil l als opr ov ide des ign criteria for s tructures and op eratio ns in the marine env iro nment that are fit forpur pose. In additio n s hor t range pred ictio ns (out to s ev eral day s ahead in general and with a fewhours l ead time with greater accuracy) are required p articul arly o f hazar dous co nditio ns, but als ofor the efficient c onduc t of every day operations .

The information services req uired to ful fil thes e purp ose s need to hav e gl ob al and p an-Eur opeansc ope. T he v ariabl es abo ut which infor mation is pr ov ided will b e do main -sp ecific; i.e. l ikely tov ary between the r egional s eas and gl obal oceans & between high and mid l atitudes. T hey ar edes cribed in app endix 2.

The MC S is co nceiv ed as o ne p art of a pr oc ess ing chain which op erates on o bservational and otherfo rms o f d ata to hel p cr eate tailored information s erv ices to meet a wide range o f end userneeds. Almo st all suc h end us er s erv ices rel ating to the marine env ironment r eq uire acc ess toinfor mation abo ut the s tate and dynamic s of the o ceans and s eas . The MCS provid es that


9/102


GMES Fast Track Marine Core Service StrategicImplementationPlan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Page 3

infor mation to intermediate us ers who comb ine it with other fo rms of infor mation and data (e. g.so cio -eco nomic d ata) to p rovid e custo mised do wnstream services for the end users .

The impl ementation of the overal l chain need s to hav e some fl exibil ity; as c ompo nents o fdo wnstream s erv ices are d ev eloped to s erv e mul tipl e uses, it may be mor e efficient fo r them tobe p rov ided as p art o f the MCS.

The p roc essing chain within the MCS mus t:

Acq uire data fr om the ground segment o f the sp ace bas ed obs erv ing sy stems and in s itunetworks .

Acq uire atmosp heric fo rcing d ata (atmosp heric winds , temp eratur es , fl uxes) fro m NationalM eteorologic al Serv ices and EC MWF

Ass embl e thes e into qual ity controll ed thematic datasets (i.e. spec ific data typ es such assea surface temp erature, salinity p rofil es ) suitabl e for the gener ation of more extens iv edata s ets for sub sequent us e, anal ytical pr oducts and assimilatio n by oc ean models. Muc hof this has to b e car ried out in near real time

Run numeric al oc ean mod els in near real time to ass imilate the thematic data andgenerate analy ses and forecas ts fro m them to an agreed and general ly p erp etuall yrep eating cycle, which us es info rmation fro m earl ier fo recas t cycles as well as the mos trec ent thematic d ata. T he centres al so need to oper ate offl ine to pr oduc e reanal ys es /hindc asts.

Pr epare p roducts s uitabl e for external servic e prov ision at the I nterface s hown abov e.That interface mus t hav e a d isc ov ery and viewing c apab il ities and the ab il ity to do wnload

sp ecific prod ucts in res pons e to req ues ts. It mus t als o b e abl e to d el iv er, prob ab ly q uitel arge vol umes o f data, routinel y to an agreed sc hedul e to meet the need s o f s pecificintermediate us ers .


10/102


O bservational components of the MCS

The main req uirements of the space- ba sed obs ervati on infra struc ture are:

C ontinuity o f tried and tested observational method s is cruc ial. This is particul arl y cr iticalaround 2010 when data gap s c oul d o ccur fo r s ev eral of the mos t critical ob serv ations.

It is mor e cr itical to es tabl is h s atell ite series for s us tainabl e s erv ice av ail abil ity than to try

o ptimizing the s pecific ations and des igning for any one satellite and its instruments , if thelatter l eads to exp ens iv e, non r enewabl e s atell ites. Es tabl is hing s atell ite series sho uldl ead to signific antly lower produc tion cos ts.

The Jaso n s eries (high accuracy altimet er sys tem fo r climate appl icatio ns and as arefer ence for o ther miss ions ) is an essential and critical component o f the GME S s atell itepr ogr amme for MC S. P lanning of Jaso n - 3 mus t be a prio rity for GMES.

The MC S req uires a high resolutio n al timeter s ys tem with at leas t three al timeters inadd ition to the Jas on s eries . Sentinel- 3 s houl d incl ud e a co ns tell ation o f two s atell ites,fl ying simul taneously , p rov iding adequate c ov erage and oper ational robus tness.Ins trumentation costs for S3 shoul d be reduced as much as poss ibl e to all ow for a two-

satell ite sy stem.C omp ared to the pres ent des ign o f S3 ins trumentation, the priority for Sea Surfac eTemp erature is for high acc uracy dual v iew measurements. T he l arge swath requir ementhas a much lo wer pr iority, in p articul ar (b ut no t onl y), if S3 is a two satell ite system.

For Oc ean C ol our a s ensor hav ing a s imil ar spec tral resol ution to MER IS is ess ential to meetthe impo rtant s hel f and co astal ocean water q uality measurement requir ements.

SAR d ata (Sentinel 1) are required for oil sp il l detection and sea ic e monitor ing. This iscl early a European core s erv ice that sho uld be c onsid ered as part o f the MCS. Thereq uirement is for at l east o ne and pr eferably two SAR missio ns in additio n to the othernon- Europ ean miss ions (e. g. RADARSAT).

Acces s to other E urop ean and non-Eur opean (e.g. NPOESS) satell ite data in real time isfundamental fo r the MC S.

GME S s hould all ow for res earc h and technol ogical dev el opments . In p articul ar, thep ossib il ity o f emb arking new ins truments with the p otential to meet GME S needs s hould b eco ns id ered . Wid e Swath altimetry and geostationary ocean col our are the two mos timpo rtant new technolo gy d ev elop ments that will b enefit the GME S MC S in the l ong run.

Detail ed gro und segment req uirements and offerings b y E SA and EUM ETSAT remain to b eagreed . But the main recommend ation is l ikely to be that the GME S ground segment s houlddev elop rob us t interfac es with E UMET SAT Ocean & Sea Ice SAF and with the MCS s atell itedata ass embl y c entres see b elow .

T he main requir ements of the in situ obs erva tion infr astruc tur e are:Again the fo cus mus t be on obs erv ing method s and technolo gies that hav e b een s uffic ientl y triedand tested in res earch and op erational serv ices. Candid ate observ ing systems co mprise:

Drifting Argo Floats for the meas urement of temperature and s al inity pro files to ~2000mand, by trac king them, mean s ubs urfac e c urrents.

Res earch vessels whic h del iv er complete s uites of mul tidiscipl inary parameters from thes urfac e to the oc ean fl oor . Suc h v es sel s sho uld be enc our aged to collect and r epor tro utine sur face observatio ns whenev er they are und erway .

X BTs l aunched by resear ch vessels and ships of opp ortunity under way fo r the measuremento f temp erature and sal inity pr ofil es to ~450 - 750m depth.

Surfac e Moo rings capabl e of meas uring s ubs urface temper ature p rofiles in par ticul arco ntinuously ov er long p eriods of time. C urrents are often monito red and meteor ol ogicalmeasur ements ar e us ual ly made too . Bio foul ing res tricts the range of meas urements that


11/102



can b e mad e fr om lo ng deployments in the pho tic zo ne but surface sal inity andb iogeochemical meas urements are feasible.

Ferry - Bo x and other r egional s hip of o ppo rtunity measur ement programmes for s urfac etrans ects which may includ e temperature, s al inity, turbid ity, chl orop hyll , nutrient,oxy gen, pH and al gal typ es.

The Continuous Pl ankton Rec ord er (CPR ) oper ated by the Sir Alister Hardy Found ation forOcean Sc ience whic h is towed fro m merc hant ships on their no rmal s ail ings in or der tomonito r the near-surface pl ankton of the No rth Atlantic and North Sea on a mo nthl y bas is.

The network o f tid e gauges which p rov ides l ong term r eferenc e and v al idatio n sea leveldata.

Pr ior ities fo r impl ementing these techno logies in a co ordinated manner to prov id e continuity andexp and their utilisatio n, par ticul arl y to achiev e near r eal time data c oll ection, are pr oposed andthe need fo r gl obal and r egional d ata ass emb ly centres is dis cuss ed.

Implementat ion plan

Ma in gu idel ines

The IG has adopted a number of p rinciples :

GME S is a jo int initiative of the EC , E SA & Memb er States s o it is ass umed that al l hav e av ested interest in its suc cess,ju dg ed by th e valu e of the in for mation ser vices th at itdelivers, and will b e will ing to co mmit co mmensurate res ources and adapt wo rkingpr actices to achieve that suc cess .

To b e jud ged s ucc essful in these ter ms , the MCS must b e genuinely driv en to s upp ortintermediate us ers on behalf of their end us ers, all of whom will app reciate the v alue o fits s erv ices and b e abl e to d etermine its out p ut & infl uence its ev ol ution.

The MC S mus t be des igned and impl emented to meet identified needs in a r el iabl e, easy touse manner , hav ing guaranteed 24- ho ur/7- day- a-week avail abil ity, and p rov id inginfo rmatio n of us eful p recis ion and stab ility.

There is cons id erable s cope for integratio n and coo rd ination o f exis ting effo rts . The MCSmust:

make maximum us e o f pas t investment and existing fac ilities ;

be sustainabl e on an oper ational bas is, with approp riate governanc e and fundingb uil t into the s ys tem.

Proposed strategy and appl ic ation

In keep ing with the imperativ e to ens ure that the need s of end users are und ers tood and actedup on, and to make maximum use o f p ast inv es tment and exis ting facil ities these hav e b eenrev iewed to es tabl ish sound foundatio ns upo n which to b uil d the MC S.

The id entified needs are s ummarised in sec tion 2.1 and append ix 2. The MC S fo undatio ns can b echarac terised as:

the existing infr astruc ture in the for m of in s itu obs erv ing sys tems, E O systems and dataco ll ectio n and modelling systems that are in place to p rov id e env iro nmental informatio nserv ices;

thos e infor mation servic es thems elves, and

p rev ious and cur rent R&D p rojects that hav e o r are d el iv ering r el ev ant und ers tanding,to ol s and cap abil ities.

The chosen s trategy is to b uil d on thes e found ations by making maximum us e of exis ting s ys temsand pas t inv estment in kno wl edge and tools. T he exis ting systems are d istr ibuted so the des ign of


12/102


the MCS mus t b e d is trib uted. I n effect a sys tem of l argel y existing sys tems and thos e und erdev elo pment is the go al .

The s trategy is then impl emented by anal ys ing the req uired functio nal ity of the co mp onents ys tems to es tabl is h whether and if so wher e they exis t alread y or might eas ily b e up grad ed tomeet req uirements. The repo rts of the WGs o n the sp ace b ased and in situ infras tructures ar eus ed for this, together with other knowl ed ge and ins ights obtained fro m publ ished l iterature, themember s of the I G and their contacts. Remaining gap s are identified , at l east in functio nal termsand with some cand id ates to fill them. Sustainab il ity d emand s that unnecess ary d upl icatio n is notc arried into the impl ementation of the MC S. Where poss ibl e a ro ad map for the pro cess has b eens uggested and p rior ities establ ished and rec ommendatio ns made.

Arc hitectur e imp lementation

The key s tep is to reco gnis e that mod ell ing of the marine env iro nment can and need s to b ecarr ied out at d ifferent scales in different domains and that biologic al and chemical pr oc ess estake pl ace within the context o f the pr ev ail ing phys ical env ironment. This recognitio n l ead s to theadop tion of two catego ries of nes ting of models ; (i) p hys ical ly fro m the gl ob al, to the regio nal , tothe natio nal , to the local and ( ii) nesting o f ec os ys tem proc ess mod elling within an app ropriatephys ical model .

For (i) , the actual choic e of domains is d etermined by the co mb ination o f p hys ical geo grap hy anduser need. Thus :

The Med iterranean, Bal tic and Bl ack Seas hav e their o wn particul ar p hys ical andeco sys tem characteris tics l argel y defined b y their b athyme try, fluv ial inp uts and limitedb ut impo rtant exchanges with their adjo ining s eas .

The Arc tic Ocean is pr edic ted to b e the l ocation of the mos t r apid and dramatic cl imatechanges d uring the 21st c entury, with the potential of major ramific ations for mid -l atitude c l imate. It also pl ays a major rol e in the fres hwater b al ance o f the Nor th Atlanticand is a v ery hos til e env ironment.

The North Wes t shel f is one o f the mos t complex in the wor ld in terms of the intensity ofmarine exp loitation, mul tipl icity of industries, s erv ices and so cial amenities, complexityand detail of regul ation, adj oining pop ul ation density and indus trial d ev elopment. It is als osubject to input fro m l arge Eur opean riv ers , agricul tural run o ff and sensitiv ity to cl imatechange.

The North Atlantic pl ays a major rol e in the gl obal c irc ul ation and has s ignificant effectson Europ ean weather and cl imate. It p rov id es the b ound ary cond itions d irec tly for theNorth Wes t s hel f and interacts str ongly with the Arctic Oc ean.

Seas onal and cl imate pr ed ictio n are imp oss ibl e without kno wled ge of the threedimens ional state and dy namics of the glob al o cean. E urope has gl obal interes ts r equiring

acc ess to gl ob al information.

I t is env isaged that the MC S wil l co mpris e at l east o ne o perational mod ell ing and d ata ass imilatio nactiv ity for each o f thes e domains, with an exchange o f boundary cond itions as necess ary: e.g.between the glob al and oc ean bas ins and their s hel f s eas , and between the encl osed regional seasand their adjoining ocean or s hel f s ea. T he res ol ution of the models is not pr escribed but sho uldaim to b e start-o f- the art for p rov isio n of the commo n deno minator data that are req uired fromthe MC S.

The MERSE A IP C onso rtium has adop ted a func tional architec ture for a demo nstr ation of itsper cep tion o f the MC S based on three Th ematic Ass emb ly Centres (TAC) and fiv e Monito ring andFore casting Centres (M FC ), which it jointly d esc ribes as Th ematic Po rtals (TEPs) . The five MFCcov er the main o cean d omains : Glob al , Arctic, Nor th West Shelv es and NE Atl antic, Bal tic, andMed iterranean (the, Black sea remains to be integrated) . Jo intl y the TEPs compr ise a proc essingchain which c arries out the func tions l isted in section 2 above through a coll ectio n of serv ices


13/102



dis tributed among providers phys ical systems. Resp onsib il ity for the necessary serv ices r esideswith the app ropriate TEP .

Whil st car e wil l be needed to ensur e robus tness a nd a void singl e points of fa il ure,im pl ementati on based on the MERS EA d esign, usi ng the c apabilities, tool s, techniques,pr oc edures a nd sta nda rds d evel oped, adopted a nd being tested by the c onsorti um , i s a na ttracti ve way a head a nd the IG rec ommends their a dopti on for the MCS . A key fea ture of thedesi gn is its c ommi tm ent to i nteroper ability a nd distributed func tionali ty . This should a llowp otential c ontributor s to the MCS, who are not mem ber s of the IP, to a ugm ent i ts c a pa biliti esby contri buti ng needed ser vic es, provid ed tha t they opera te a ccordi ng to the rul es whic hensure tha t interoperabili ty and ease of us e by interm edia te users.

A number o f cand id ate prov ider s of the TACs required fo r p roc essing space bas ed and in situobs erv ations are id entified , as are centres operating o cean models which sho uld be able to carryout the requir ed data ass imilatio n and modell ing functio ns by 2 008.

It is fur ther co ncl uded that there shoul d b e one serv ice del iv ery centre for each of the glob al andregio nal s ea do mains id entified abov e prov iding info rmation d is covery, v iewing anddo wnload /del iv ery functions bas ed on op en standar ds. These sho uld p rovid e access to the

req uired and av ail abl e MC S pr oduc ts and defined sup por t serv ices .

Demonstration

The s uitabil ity o f the s trategy is tes ted in s ectio n 6 thro ugh a s mal l numb er of end - to- end cas estud ies of its env isaged appl ication. These are based o n:

Supp or t fo r existing env ironmental pr otec tion Conv entions and the (assumed )

impl ementation of the M arine Env ironmental Strategy Dir ectiv e.

The p rov isio n of ice ser v ices .

Supp ort for oil sp ill detection and management.

In eac h cas e the req uired data, the c ontributio n of the MCS and of intermed iate user s p rov idingreq uired do wn stream serv ices are rev iewed.

MCS gover nance and related issues

It is env isaged that the MC S wil l be distr ibuted and co mpr ise a number (of ord er 10 as discus sed insection 2.3) o f op erator s that will produc e and offer pr oduc ts and serv ices, as charac terized inap pend ix 2 and s ectio n 4, to intermediate us ers . So me s uch op erator s are l ikel y to b e co nsor tia.Other oper ators will be respo nsible fo r the T hematic Assembly Centres . O ther actors will exis t inthe fo rm of external data prov iders, such as ESA and E UMETSAT for E arth Obs erv ations andagenc ies in Member States for in s itu data, acting s ingly or as the co ns or tia which c omprise theOperational Ocean Systems/Networ ks of Eur oGOOS.

Altho ugh o ther op tions exist, i n o rd er to prov id e the necess ary d egree o f integratio n andco ordination of policies and d ecis ions mad e in common b y the MCS oper ators , it is sugges ted thata MCS Ma nagement Orga nisation (MCS MO) be fo rmed. This wo ul d need to hav e a l egal

p ersonal ity. Loo king inwards, it wo ul d b e res ponsibl e for ens uring that the op erator s as outl ine dabov e d el iv ered their o ffered servic es acc ord ing to agr eed Serv ice Lev el Agreements (SLAs). Theexternal data prov iders wo ul d probabl y hav e SLAs with the GME S M anagement Author ity, but theal ternative o f making them with the MC SM O is for c ons id eratio n. Lo oking outward s, s uch anAuthority would repr esent the MC S in its interac tion with the GME S Management Author ity withres pec t to the Gener al Management Function des cr ib ed in GAC (2006)6. An MC SMO woul d b eb etter abl e to exercis e the Tec hnical Management functio n d es cr ib ed in that doc ument than

would a GME S-wide Author ity, s imp ly b ecaus e the us er d emand , tec hnical s ol utions , actualper for mance, research needs and qual ification proc esses are l ikely to be sp ecific to the marinedo main at l east.


14/102


In the v ery short term, i.e. in r espo nding to opportunities to demons trate and dev el op the MC Swithin FP7, s uch a Management Or ganisatio n might be cr eated and op erated by a l ead partnerand co mpr ise an exec utive compo sed of r epres entatives o f a c onso rtium of operators. Howev er,in the l onger term, there wo ul d b e some merit in cr eating a s ep arate entity with its o wn l egalidentity. T he Eur opean Eco nomic Inte res t Gr oup (E EI G) has so me charac teristics which woul dmake it an attractive co mpany struc ture.

Day to d ay interactio ns b etween pr oduc t and s erv ice provid ers and their us ers s hould b eco nduc ted direc tly. Propos al s for catal oguing and sear ching for d ata, p rod ucts and s erv ices aremade in this Strategic Impl ementation Pl an. Ho wev er there will be a need for intermed iate us ersto interact with the op erator s and MC SMO to determine, on a lo ng term basis , the scop e andcharac teristics of serv ices to b e o ffered, a ny changes to them and agree prior ities and anass ociated R&D pro gramme. Some form ofMCS Com miss ioni ng Forum, meeting at l eas t annuall y,co ul d provid e a suitabl e body fo r this.

Selection of op erator s

The s erv ices will b e p rovid ed by operato rs (i. e. ins ti tutes, agencies , c ompanies , or consor tia) thatmanage and o per ate functio nal centres. They sho ul d b e sel ected on the b asis of their abil ity toful fil the requir ements o f a l egall y b inding co ntract, their acc es s to the req uired res ources, theirexp ertis e (scientific and technical ), their oper ational status , track record and pr ev iousp erfo rmanc e, commitment to wo rk with the interfaces , and cos t- effec tiv eness. R egionalknowl edge and ownership wil l cl earl y be impor tant, as well as so und rep artition of the wor kb etween Member States

The co mpositio n o f the MC S s houl d b e rev iewed period ical ly to all ow fo r mod ifications of thep artners hip. Sev eral el ements could b e co ns id ered in s uch rev iews , e. g. the (d ul y weighted)national r esour ces committed to the sy stem, the r elativ e perfo rmance and strengths of potentialop erators, national pol icies , needs for new s erv ices , and their abil ity to provid e ful ly operationaland sus tainable serv ices .

A l ev el o f c ompetitio n in some aspec ts o f the pr oces s chain wil l be app rop riate to createincentiv es to innov ate and improv e p erfor mance. For this pur pos e there wil l be a need toenco urage a meas ure o f functio nal d upl icatio n. Howev er, this will need to b e b al anced agains tthe imper ative to create cr itical mass in a r el ativel y few centre s and the d ifficul ty of dupl icatingmajor investments.

Fu nding & Data Policy

At pr esent there are no rel iabl e es timates of the ful l cos ts of a n effec tiv e, efficient MCS or of theups tream and d ownstr eam capab ilities that are req uired to del iv er v alue from it. Suc h estimatesare r equir ed during the next y ear o r s o as exp erience grows d uring the FP 7 funded d emons trationp hase; no t l eas t to ens ure that the cas e for long term fund ing is rob us t.

In the in terim, it is assumed that, becau se the servic es being delivered by the MCS ar e p ubl icgoods they w ill be c o- fu nded by th e EU and Member States, not at the po int of del iv ery bycharges lev ied on intermediate us ers.

On this basis, it is fur ther assumed that upstream data and MCS data, pr oduc ts and servic esmade available to inter mediate user s w il l be free of charg e, excep t for the cost of deliver y,if th ey are used excl usively for GMES p urp oses.

It is exp ected that intermed iate us ers wil l b e financed thro ugh us er c harges in effect fo r thev al ue that they ad d to the info rmation and serv ices that they obtain fr om the MC S and o therups tream s erv ice p rov ider s. Some anc ill ary data may fall within the sc ope of the I NSPIRE Directiv eo thers will b e av ail abl e on terms specified by their s up pl iers .

Ther e is no doub t that some EU l ev el supp ort wil l be d es irable for intermed iate s erv ice p rov id ersdur ing the MCS demons tration phas e at l east. It is und ers tood that this is pl anned within FP7. Atpr esent such suppor t is being provid ed by the E SA GSE s, in particul ar M arC oast and P ol ar View.


15/102



In future the d ata purc hase activ ities of EMSA and the ESA managed - EC funded data- b uy pl annedwithin FP 7 will b e imp or tant in this regard , if they are s us tained .

Conclusion

The Mar ine C or e Serv ice was cho sen as a GME S Fast T rack initiativ e b ecaus e a clear need was

identified fo r its output and the necess ary foundations fo r its cr eation and s ucc ess fuldemo nstration b y 2008, and succ ess ful oper ational impl ementation thereafter, were in pl ace.That remains the case.

The task no w is to build on thos e found ations by mob il is ing the undoub ted intell ectual andmaterial res ources that exis t within European organisatio ns s uch as ESA and E UM ETSAT and withinagencies , ins titutes and indus try within E U M emb er States and foc us them on ac tiv ities throughoutthe p roc ess ing chain that:

Are well res earched (and tested where possible) and therefore known to be scientifical lyand technically rob us t, and state of the art.

Will del iver what is requir ed by intermed iate and end us ers in or der to ens ure that pol ices

des igned to del iv er env iro nmental pr otection and sustainabl e dev el opment are dev el op ed,tes ted and impl emented.

T he cr itical success factors are jud ged to be:

Impl ementation of the p rior ities/actions reques ted in this Pl an to s ecure space bas ed and

in situ obs erv ing cap abil ities, noting in p artic ul ar the need fo r co ntinuity of data supply;

Successful mob ilisatio n of the resour ces need ed to impl ement the MC S, in a fair,trans par ent, effic ient and effec tiv e manner. That inv olv es b uilding on p ast inv es tmen t,which has inevitabl y c reated stro ng centres with cap abil ities in spec ific ar eas, whil stkeeping op en the door to innov ation and v aluabl e c ontrib utions fro m elsewhere no

cl osed shop ;

Av oid ing unnecessar y dupl icatio n that does not add to robus tness an d can be wasteful ofres ources ;

Achieving interoperab il ity thro ughout what is l ikely to b e a co mpl ex pr oces sing chain andthereby making serv ices read il y acc ess ibl e to intermed iate users, o nl y so me of whom areidentifiabl e today;

Add ing need ed improv ements to exis ting s erv ices; Ado ptio n o f the reques ted data polic y.

The strategy of build ing upo n the cap abil ities being d evel oped in the s uccess ful IntegratedPr oject (MER SE A), rel ev ant ESA GSEs (M arCoas t and P ol ar View) and pas t national R&D andFramework P rogrammes is d es igned to ens ure s tate o f the art. T he us e of s erv ice del iv ery port alsfocussed on the global and sp ecific regional s eas s houl d it make it eas y for us ers to l oc ate d ata &produc ts to meet their r eq uirements. By making thes e p ortal s av ail abl e to all p otential s up pl ierswill ing and able to p rov id e effectiv e s erv ices , us ers wil l hav e choice and no s uch s up pl ier will beat a d is adv antage. T he ins istence up on the us e o f op en s tandard s s houl d ensur e interoper abil ity.

The substantial fund ing by the EU and E SA M ember States o f the firs t Sentinel 3 and 1 is vital ofco urs e, but continuity b eyo nd this firs t segment of the miss ion and of the Jas on series is not yetsec ure. The funding o f a pr e op erational MCS demons tration proj ect, designed on the principlesset o ut abov e, within the FP7 Sp ace Programme will fac il itate impl ementation of the strategy.The alloc ation of FP7 funds to the pur chas e o f space d ata is wel co me. T he co mmitment of arel atively s mal l amount o f money for co ord ination of and inv es tment in sel ected in s itu networ kss ho uld help to maximis e the v al ue o f M emb er States current inv es tment in suc h d ata sources ,and co ul d hav e a d is propo rtio nate imp act b ecause suc h coo rd ination is ad hoc at pres ent.


16/102

2 Introductio n

The fo rmativ e Worksho p1which l ed to the acc ep tance o f the Mar ine Core Serv ice (MCS) as a

GME S Fast T rack was held in Bruss el s on Octob er 27 - 28 2005.

Ther e it was agr eed that the MC S:

2.1 will prov ide the co mmon deno minator d ata for all users in the marinesec torGMES

The marine core service is part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative(GMES). The purpose of GMES, as defined in 20082, is to deliver services of public interest. Acommunication in 20093 confirmed that these services should be in the environment and securitydomain.

It consists of three components, space, in-situ and services. The space and in-situ componentsprovide measurements of the planet. Planning for the space component was set out in 2009 4.

The services, according to the 2008 definition, are

the basis for Europe's autonomy in information provision world-wide. The scope anddelivery schemes of GMES services should be designed to ensure an operationalimplementation based on user requirements and applicable legislation, but mighthave to be prioritised according to institutional and policy needs.

2.2 Core Services

Since 2008, four pre-operational GMES services have been launched. These are:

a land monitoring service;

a marine service;

an atmospheric composition monitoring service;

an emergency response service.

Each of these "core" services should deliver a number of products that can either beobservations derived directly from the space or in-situ components or parameters derived frommodels that assimilate these observations. It is assumed that these services will be at leastpartly publicly funded and subject to some decision-making at an EU level.

2.3 Downstream Sector

Other services, "the downstream sector", can use the products from the "core" service to createother products but these are market-driven. Should they be required for any particular serviceon behalf of public authorities at a local, national or EU level then they will be paid from the

1GAC(2005)12 - Workshop on GMES Marine Core Service, Brussels October 27-28, 2005: areport by P. Ryder, J.-F. Minster, N. Pinardi, K. Resfnes, M. Bell and J. Johannessen

2 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the EuropeanEconomic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Global Monitoring for Environment andSecurity (GMES): we care for a safer planet Brussels, 12.11.2008 COM(2008) 748 final

3 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the EuropeanEconomic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Global Monitoring for Environment andSecurity (GMES): Challenges and Next Steps for the Space Component Brussels, 28.10.2009 COM(2009) 589

final4 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the EuropeanEconomic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Global Monitoring for Environment andSecurity (GMES): Challenges and Next Steps for the Space Component Brussels, 28.10.2009 COM(2009) 589final


17/102

Page 2 GM ES Fast Tr ac k Marine C ore Se rv ice Str ategi cImpleme n tationPlan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

appropriate budget subject to normal cost-benefit analyses and public procurement rules. Theyare not subject to the centralised planning of the "core" services. However the satisfaction ofthose providing services in the downstream sector will be the principal factor in judging thesuccess of the core services.

Up to now it has not been entirely clear if the downstream sector refers to all services usingearth observation imagery for furthering environment and security policy or only those that useproducts generated by a core service. This will become more confusing as data from theSentinel satellites become available. These satellites may provide observations paid from aGMES budget that are useful for services in the marine or maritime domain that do not actuallyuse any products generated by the marine core services.

However the purpose of this document is to define the marine core service, not the whole ofGMES. For clarity, only services that use products generated by the marine core service will bedesignated as downstream service.

2.4 Marine Core Service

A Worksho p5 which l e d to the proposal o f the Ma r ine Core Se r v ice ( MCS) as a GM E S F a st T rackwas held in Bruss el s on Octob er 27 - 28 2005.

Those present agr eed that the MC S:

a. will pr o v ide the c o mmon den o minator d ata f o r all users in the marine se c to r , in otherwords the information (sometimes mandatory) for existing & new downstream services;

b. should deliver regular and systematic reference information (processed data,elaborated products) on the state of the oceans and regional seas:

i. at the resolution required by intermediate users & downstream serviceproviders, of known quality and accuracy,

ii. for the global and European regional seas, with downscaling capacity based onspecific needs.

c. products should comprise:

i. observational and model data,

ii. real time data and predictions (from days to weeks) and re-analysis (longesttime series of information about the ocean state in the past),

iii. simulations (what-if scenarios).

In order to deliver its products, the MCS should contribute to:

d. Organisation of sustainable development and operations (interoperable &coherent) of:

i. the observing systems

ii. the modelling & forecasting facilities

iii. the data harmonization and information for the global & regional scales,Strengthening of the connection with downstream services (e.g. marine safety,

e. oil spill monitoring, harmful algae bloom monitoring, coastal management, marineresources),

f. Integration & upgrading of the capabilities of existing national services.

It was further agreed that there is a need to show that several components of the MCS arealready working in Europe and to convey this message to the decision makers. In addition, it was

noted that the MCS provides an effective means to utilize the significant investment of the

5 GAC(2005)12 - Workshop on GMES Marine Core Service, Brussels October 27-28, 2005: a report byP. Ryder, J.-F. Minster, N. Pinardi, K. Resfnes, M. Bell and J. Johannessen


18/102


GM ES Fast Tr ac k Marine C ore Se rv ice Str ate gicImpleme n tationPlan Page 3

GMES space component. In this context there was a complete understanding that the ESA-GMESSpace programme is fundamental to the success of the MCS.

The It was agreed that the MCS was enjoined to concentrate on the global to the regionalEuropean scales (as opposed to the "non-European regional" or "European coastal"), so that the

European concerted effort will be justified. MCS should then be configured as an initialEuropean contribution to the marine segment for GEOSS.

Small Implementation Groups were set upappointed after the 2005 user workshops for each ofthe three GMES Fast Track Services. They largely consisted of Commission services, EU agencies,the European Space Agency, EUMETSAT, regional sea conventions and some other bodies thatmight provide services or products upstream or downstream of the core services. They weregiven the mandate of supervising and validating the implementation of these Services, in opencooperation with the relevant user communities.

The Terms of Reference, composition and working methods of the Marine Core Service

Implementation Group (IG) are reproduced at Appendix 1.

The main output of the IG to date is this Strategic Implementation Plan and the supportingdocuments generated by working groups set up by the IG, subsequently approved, and eitherincorporated into or attached as appendices to the Plan. This plan has beenwas updated in 2010as guidance for the 2012-2014 gap filling activities to move from R&D to real operationalservices.

If endorsed by the GMES Bureau and GMES Advisory Council, the Plan will provide ratifiedguidelines and prioritisation for implementation. In the short term it is envisaged that it willguide current R&D and demonstration activities being pursued with EC and ESA funding, inparticular those that will be funded within the Space Theme of FP7.

However, it is hoped that the Plan will also provide a roadmap for a long-term, sustainableMarine Core Service able to support a wide range of downstream services, some of which can be

seen today but many of which will only emerge when the MCS is in place. With this in mind, aneffort has been made to describe the rationale for the guidelines and priorities, not simply theproposals themselves. It is hoped that the Strategic Implementation Plan will give confidence tothe EC and Member States that their expectations of GMES in the marine domain have a goodchance of being fulfilled and that their continued support is warranted.

To fulfil its mandate and build upon the conclusions of the Workshop the IG has addressed anumber of specific issues:

a. The purpose, scope and functionality of the Marine Core Service, especially of itsglobal and regional components

b. The space infrastructure required by the Marine Core Service, including the

requirement for and continuity of current European capacities (space and groundsegments) operated by EUMETSAT, ESA and national agencies, and the possibilitiesfor international cooperation (complementary or shared capacities)

c. In situ infrastructure for the Marine Core Service, especially the requirement for andsustainability of European capacities and their contribution to international systemsas well as the European coordination to manage these capacities

d. Structure and governance of the Marine Core Service, including, for example, thesharing of activities and operational responsibilities between the service provisionpartners and the associated service level agreement process, defined between theGMES Management Authority, representing the MCS user communities, and, forexample, a MCS Provider Consortium, including the impacts of this service level

agreement on the consortium partner status and on service information policy,


19/102


e. Links and interfaces between the Marine Core Service and downstream services,including the requirements of downstream services for MCS products, theirdependencies in terms of product delivery (timeliness, quality control, ) and theassociated contractual issues.

These are now reviewed before the implementation roadmap is developed and described.


20/102



3 The purpose, scope and functionality of the MCS

Based on the adopted Working Group reports, other papers and discussions at the meetings ofthe IG, the following clarification of this issue has been obtained:

3.1 Purpose

The policy drivers have been identified as:

a. Regional Conventions between Member States & the EC OSPAR / HELCOM /Barcelona;

b. 6th Environmental Action Plan; in particular its Climate Change and MarineEnvironmental Strategy62 components;

c. The Sustainable Development imperative which is written into the Rome Treaty andis now being developed through the Green Paper on Maritime Policy73

d. Relevant existing EU Directives, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directiveand the Water Framework Directive in its application to coastal waters.

e. Specifically the Integrated Maritime Policy of the EU8 has defined many informationneeds, which the MCS is most suited to help to provide

f. EMODNET is a new initiative to gather and share better Marine Knowledge and theMCS has a specific role to provide parts of it.

g. The EU's new initiative on marine knowledge19 which proposes an overallarchitecture for marine data. The marine core service plays a principal role in this.

h. Concerns over civil security which manifest themselves in particular for safety of lifeand property in the marine environment, and the recognition that whilst there are

risks to be managed through well designed warning systems, defences and otherpreventive measures, major natural hazards and man made accidents will occur thatalso need to be managed. The Prestige accident in 2003 and flooding in Holland andEngland in 1953 and in New Orleans in 2005 are examples.

i. There is also a growing requirement to prevent and police illegal activity, much ofwhich centres on drug and human trafficking via the marine domain.

All of these require long running data sets to define the mean state9

of the marineenvironment, fluctuations about that, past trends and future predictions of change (particularlyin eraareas of uncertainty about climate) to establish baselines for environmental managementand design criteria for structures operating in the environment. In addition short range

predictions (out to several days ahead in general and with a few hours lead time with greateraccuracy) are required particularly of hazardous conditions, but also for the efficient conductof every day operations.

The MCS marine core service must be designed and implemented to meet these needs in areliable, easy to use, operational5 manner, with information of useful precision and stability.

6 See section 6.17 The Maritime Policy Green Paper has emphasised that commercial sectors such as shipping,

fishing, oil exploration, offshore construction, aquaculture, and tourism, and public sectors such as coastalprotection, defence, search and rescue, R&D and government policy making all need dataon past, presentand future meteorological, oceanographic, hydrographic and ecological state of the seas and the oceans.Global-scale monitoring is required to meet this need and the EU is being encouraged to set up a EuropeanMarine Observation & Data Network to provide sustainable, improving access to information.

8

An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union Brussels, 10.10.2007 COM(2007) 575 final9 Here we mean the physical, biological and chemical state of the environment, in general. Theneed for the biological component is likely to be expressed in terms of the state of ecosystems, andhabitats; the chemical component in terms of pollutants and nutrients


21/102


The Lisbon agenda is also an important policy initiative for GMES as a whole, noting that theGMES was also intended to contribute to the Lisbon Agenda. The programme is was included inthe Quick Start Programme and expected to foster the creation of new, innovativeinformation based services and knowledge. As such it contributes to the goals of EU 202010

3.2 The nature of the MCS

The information services required to fulfil this purpose need to have global and pan- Europeanscope. T heHowever the range and variability of these variables ab out whic h information isp rov id ed will be strongly domain- specific; i.e. likely to vary between the regional seas andglobal oceans & between high and mid latitudes.

The MCS is conceived as one part of a processing chain which operates on observational andother forms of data to help create tailored information services to meet a wide range of enduser needs. Almost all such end user services relating to the marine environment require accessto information about the state and dynamics of the oceans and seas. The MCS provides thatinformation to intermediate users who combine this with other forms of information and data to

provide customised downstream services for end users. The concept is illustrated in figure 1Figure 1and further elaborated in section 2. 53.7 below.

Figure 1service delivery chainFigure 1Figure 1 illustrates the position of the MCS in the overall chain of service delivery fromGMES input data to the provision of multiple information services to end users.

The implementation of the overall chain needs to have some flexibility. As components ofdownstream services are developed to serve multiple uses, it may be more efficient for them

to be provided as part of the MCS.

10 Europe 2020, A European Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, 03.03.2010COM(2010) 2020


22/102



The envisaged MCS variables & products are described in Appendix 2. TheA sample ofapplications /areas of benefit that these are capable of serving are indicated in tabl e 1Table 1.

Are a of benefi t Products T o in termediateu sers

611Final u ser

Climate research Com prehensiv e andi nf erred observ ati onaldat a set s reanal ysed i nst ate of t he art m odel s

Cl imate researchcentres

O cean and cl im at e research; v ali dati on ofscenari os.

Poli cy m aki ng on clim at e change

Mari neEnv i ronm entalProtection

st at e and im pact dat a &associ ated i ndicators

EEA, OSPAR,HELCOM, Barcel ona,Nati onalenv i ronm entalagenci es;

DG ENV, Poli cy makers, general publi c

Ext ended range &sea son al weat herforecasts

Ini ti al ocean conditi ons;reanal ysi s

ECMW F, Nati onalMeteorologi calServ i ces (NMS)

Agri cul ture, i nsurance, energy, transport;publi c saf et y preparedness; research

Mari ne safety Hi gh resol uti on i ce/seast ate & ocean currentforecasts

NMSs, Nati onalO ceanographicAgenci es, Nati onalMari ne safetyagenci es, m aritim et ransport i ndustry

Search and rescue, drift i ng obj ectm anagem ent; ex trem e wav e forecastpreparati on; m ari ne transport ati on

F i sheri es,ecosy stem s

Physi cal condi ti ons; re-anal ysi s of pastconditi ons

Nati onal m ari ne andf i sheri es i nstitut es

I CES, DG FISH, Nati onal fisheri es;

research

Shi ppi ng &off shore

i ndustri es

Hi gh resol uti on i ce/sea-st ate & current forecasts

f or operati ons:

reanal yses f or desi gn

Val ue addi ng serv i cecom pani es

O perati on support , shi p rout i ng, struct uredesi gn cri t eri a, ri sk asse ssm ent; EMSA

Oil Spillm anagem ent-

T em perature, wi nd,wav e & current data

Respo nsi bl e Nati onalm ari ne agenci es &European Mari neSaf ety Agency(EMSA)

Af f ect ed coast al publi c authoriti es &busi ne sses

Civ il Securi ty T em perature, wi nd,wav e & current data

Cust om s & Ex ci se,Coast G uards

DG T REN, Immi grati on and drug controlagenci es, poli ce forces

Mari neEnv i ronm ent,Ecosystem s

Boundary and i niti alcondi ti ons, dataproduct s

Nati onal Coastalm oni t ori ng andf orecasti ng system

Nat i onal env i ronm ental or m ari neagenci es; Nati onal W FD reporti ng; Coastal

m anagem ent.

Table 1 Examples of areas of benefit, product lines, intermediate and final users

Area of benefit Products Requirementfor recentinformation12

To intermediate users13 Final user

11 In practice, the actual intermediate users may be contactors appointed by the listed agencies or institutes12

timing indicates fastest speed that information is required. In most cases archived data is requiredas well in order to analyse past trends, predict future events and calibrate models.

13 In practice, the actual intermediate users may be contactors appointed by the listed agencies orinstitutes


23/102


Maritime safety High resolutionice/sea state &ocean currentforecasts

Hours national meteorologicalservices, nationalOceanographic Agencies,National Marine safetyagencies, maritime

transport industry

Search and rescue,drifting objectmanagement; extremewave forecastpreparation; marine

transportationShipping &offshore operations

High resolutionice/sea- state &current forecastsfor operations:reanalyses fordesign

Hours Value adding servicecompanies

Operation support,ship routing, structuredesign criteria, riskassessment; EMSA

Oil Spillmanagement-

Temperature,wind, wave &current data

Hours Responsible Nationalmarine agencies &European Marine SafetyAgency (EMSA)

Affected coastal publicauthorities &

businesses

Coastal protection Boundary and

initial conditions,data products

Hours National Coastal

monitoring andforecasting system

National

environmental ormarine agencies;National WFDreporting; Coastalmanagement.

Civil Security14 Temperature,wind, wave &current data

Hours Customs & Excise, CoastGuards

Immigration and drugcontrol agencies,police forces

Extended range &seasonal weatherforecasts15

Initial oceanconditions;reanalysis

Days ECMWF, NationalMeteorological Services(NMS)

Agriculture, insurance,energy, transport;public safetypreparedness; research

MarineManagement

state data forproduction ofindicators

Months EEA, OSPAR, HELCOM,Barcelona, Nationalenvironmental agencies;

DG ENV, Policymakers, general public

fisheriesmanagement16

Physicalconditions; re-analysis of pastconditions

Year National marine andfisheries institutes

ICES, National fisheriesagencies, research

Climate research Comprehensiveand inferredobservational datasets reanalysed instate of the artmodels

Year Climate research centres Ocean and climateresearch; validation ofscenarios.

Policy making on

climate change

Table 1: A generic summary of areas of benefit, product lines, intermediate and final users

14 Most of these applications require vessel detection in synthetic aperture radar. Better knowledgeof sea-state can improve confidence in results.

15

The marine core service is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for better seasonal weatherforecasts. More research is needed to show whether these are viable.

16 There is a relationship between sea conditions and recruitment but it is not yet well known. It isexpected that, as knowledge accumulates, better data on physical and chemical composition of the watermight reduce uncertainties in fisheries management


24/102



3.3 Th e scope of th e MCS an d its rationale

3.4 At the pr es ent time it is entirel y feasible, with useful acc uracy , to d es cr ib eTh e requirements for delivering a marine core service

This section was a bit mixed-up. I have re-ordered it but I am not sure of its purpose. Some of itis repeated later in the text.

The operational objective of the marine core service is to d es cr ib e

a. properties of the upper layer of the ocean for those parameters that can bemeasured directly or indirectly through from satellite observation eg surfacetemperature, ice cover etc

b. the physical state and dynamics of the oceans and seas, incl uding the rel evantdy namics , from the surface to the sea floor, provid ed that rep res entative d ata areav ailabl e to (a) res olv e the main dy namical and p hysical characteristic s suffic ientlyoften to sp an the p erio d o f us eful p redictabil ity o f cur rent numerical mod el s (a fewweeks ) and (b) des cr ibe the forc ing from the atmosphere. I t is v al uabl e, and forsome purpo ses and locations essential , to know the extent and nature o f ic e cov erand the fl ux of fresh water from the majo r riv ers. The nature o f the b otto mtop ogr ap hy is cl early important but that is s uffic ientl y wel l known , o n the br oadsc ale at least.

Some in situ meas urements are av ail abl e fro m researc h ves sels to character iz e the bio logic aland c hemical state o f the seas but these are often spars e in time and sp ace and tend to b eco ncentrated in coas tal waters. They are rarely av ail abl e in near real time17. They do allo widentification of long p eriod trend s at (hop eful ly) representative l ocations . Some limitedpr oper ties can b e infer red mor e freq uentl y and extens iv ely fro m EO data, e.g. p rimaryp rod uctiv ity and s ed iment lev els from ocean colour meas urements . T he pr esence of so mepoll utants, in particul ar o il spill s and excessiv e nutrients , leading to extensiv e al gal blooms atthe ocean sur face, can be inferred fro m EO data too . But there is no d oubt that add itional insitu data are need ed to d efine the biologic al and c hemical state more comp rehensiv el y.

This requires computer models, computing facilities and observations.

3.4.1 Computer models

Time -dependent circulation models of the oceans and seas are crucial for maximising the valueof intermittent sparse data to deliver the best possible descriptions of their past, current andfuture state. Physical models are well developed and available with increasing resolution forthe global oceans and regional seas. Methods for nesting limited area, higher resolution modelswithin global and regional models are available too.

Models of biological and chemical processes in the seas that are capable of providing usefulanalyses and predictions of at least the lower trophic levels of ecosystems remain in theresearch domain.

Whether the resolution and accuracy of the output products are sufficient to meet the needsof users is not yet known. Better knowledge should emerge during the demonstration phaseof the marine core service.

3.4.2 Computing facilities

Substantial powerful computing facilities, housed and operated to achieve 24- hour/7-day-a-week availability are essential to deliver truly operational services and such facilities are

17 Some moorings and the Ferry Box technology are capable of near real time biogeochemicalreporting. New technologies such as gliders and ARGO floats can also collect biogeochemical data and arevery promising for the provision of near real time data


25/102

Page 10 GM ES Fast Trac k Marine C ore Se rv ice Str ategi cImpleme n tationPlan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

required to conduct development of ecosystem models for future operational use. These existin the National Meteorological Services, National Oceanographic Agencies or major researchfacilities that have a mandate to provide operational services, b ut are few in number.Computing power is decreasing in cost.

IS COMPUTING POWER A LIMITING FACTOR IN THE ALGORITHMS USED OR ARE WE LIMITED BYCOARSENESS OF MEASUREMENTS?

3.4.3 Observations

3.4.3.1 Physical parameters

Ocean circulation models require rep res entative d ata to describe:

a. the main d y namic a l and p h y sic al character istic s frequently enough t o s p an the p e rio d o fus eful p redic tabil ity o f cur rent numerical mod el s (a few weeks )

b. the f o r c ing f r om the atmosphere.

c. (for some purposes and locations) the extent and nature o f ic e c o v e r and the f l ux of f r eshwater from the majo r riv ers.

The nature o f the b otto m top ogr ap hy is cl early important but that is s uffic ientl y wel l known ,for the global and regional scales considered within the scope of the marine core service.

3.4.3.2 Chemical and biological parameters

Satellite observations generally have the spatial and temporal coverage required but, ofcourse, only monitor the upper layers of the sea. Some limited pr oper ties, e.g. p rimaryp rod uctiv ity and s ed iment lev els, can be inferred from ocean colour meas urements . T hepr esence of so me poll utants, in par ticul ar o il spill s and excessiv e nutrients , leading to

extensiv e al gal blooms at the oc ean sur face, can be inferred fro m EO data too . But there is nod oubt that add itional in situ data are need ed to d efine the biologic al and chemical state morecomp rehensiv el y.

Some in situ meas urements are av ail abl e fro m researc h ves sels to character iz e the bio logic aland c hemical state o f the seas but these are often spars e in time and sp ace and tend to b eco ncentrated in coas tal waters. They are r arely av ail abl e in near real time18 but they do a llo widentification of long p eriod trend s at (hop eful ly) repr esentative l ocations .

3.4.3.3 Adequacy of monitoring network

Initial experience from projects such as MERSEA and MyOcean indicates that the monitoringnetwork does allow the preparation of products. It has not yet been established whether the

accuracy or precision of these products would improve with a denser observation network.

To some extent results from the ongoing MyOcean project should answer this question.Furthermore certain current projects under the European Marine Observation and DataNetwork19 are also aiming to assess the adequacy of the current monitoring network The marineknowledge communication19 indicates that the Commission will make an assessment in 2012-2013 as to the needs for further observations in the marine domain.

3.5 Geographical scope of marine core service

With these caveats, and the hope that continuity of EO data can be maintained and in situmonitoring improved, it is clear that an MCS that can fulfil its purpose, given the

18 Some moorings and the Ferry Box technology are capable of near real time biogeochemicalreporting. New technologies such as gliders and ARGO floats can also collect biogeochemical data and arevery promising for the provision of near real time data

19 Marine Knowledge 2020 should be adopted as a Communication in June 2010


26/102


GMES Fast Tr ack Marine C ore Se rv ice Str ate gi cImpleme n tationPlan Page 11

availability of the necessary computing, data collection and processing facilities and skilledstaff to operate them.

The descriptions above provide necessary but insufficient criteria to define the scope of apractical, deliverable MCS. It is also necessary to place some limits on the areal extent and

resolution of common services to be provided as part of the MCS and those which will be moreproperly and efficiently provided as downstream services see below.

There are strong arguments see section 4.3.1 5.3.1 "Architecture"- for recognizing theparticular characteristics and needs for MCS marine core service products on a global scale, forthe oceans which border Europe and their shelf and regional seas.

But are the needs for descriptions of the physical, biological and chemical state of everyestuary or coastal zone to be met by the MCS? Are high resolution models of every EEZ to bemaintained and operated when needed to predict the evolution of major accidental releases ofpollutants as part of the MCS? Surely not. T hes e are impo rtant spec ialised , normall y national ,need sIt is currently not technically or financially feasible to provide this for the whole of theEuropean shelf.

In certain coastal areas, a local risk assessment will indicate that this is cost-effective. Inothers it will not.

The decision as to whether to implement local solutions are national concerns which should bemet by downstream services funded from local budgets , coordinated where necessary at aregional or EU level. Such services will be supported by the MC S marine core service throughthe provision of broader scale state descriptions,; in particular in the form the boundary andinitial conditions for high resolution models of coastal or otherwise defined domains of interest.

The rational e for this co ncl usio n is bo th political and eco nomic.

Firstl y,This respects the principle of s ubsid iairity notes that: s ubsid iarity that "nothing shouldbe done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and

simpler organization". The architecture that is proposed in section 4, a system of systems, fromglobal to regional, follows that tenet. The coastal domain, where the greatest diversity of endusers arises, is not considered part of the MCS, since it can be served most effectively at anational and local level by downstream services. If the MC S was to maintain the cap abil ity toprovid e d iv ers e, high resol ution services ev ery where, for all possibl e purposes requiringinfor mation abo ut the co mmon d enominator s tate v ariabl es , it woul d need to be a v ery l argeand compl ex o rganizatio n. Furthermore, it wo ul d still b e necessary for the MC S to inter facewith intermediate us ers to combine the s tate variabl es with al l other loc al information, which isnecessary to resolv e real s oc ial , economic and env iro nmental issues , so there would be fewsav ings and the po tential for co mplex, unmanageabl e interfaces. This is not to deny that so meof the front end functions of the MC S see section 2.4 b el ow co uld and sho ul d not bec arried out at r egional centers, p articul arl y where they can make us e of exis ting cap abil ities asd is cussed in s ectio n 4.2.

Seco ndl y, the substantial investment that wil l be needed to p rov ide MC S ser v ices req uir es thenumber o f co mputer intensiv e mod eli ng/data as simil ation centers at l east to be kept to aminimum, co ns is tent with the recognized large s cal e v ariatio n in the gl ob al and regio nalEuropean o ceans and seas and a des ire for some technical competitio n at the margin. Theenv isaged co nsol idatio n and integration to r el atively well eq uipp ed centres brings the po tentialfor improved v al ue for money and scientific qual ity, as well as ro bus tness to the sys tem. In thespirit of the Europ ean Resear ch Ar ea, the integra tion o f the MC S can play a significant role indr awing the intell ectual resour ces and tapp ing the expertise of a wide community. TheWorks hop which l ed to the decis ion to Fast Tr ack MC S impl ementation, and much priordiscuss ion, recognised this and conc l ud ed that the number of such centres should be of order

10. Provi ded that i nforma tion fr om the MCS is fr eel y a nd readily a va il able for fur therela boration i n d ownstr eam servic es a nd there is a sharing of tools, that c oncl usi on is up held by


27/102

Page 12 GM ES Fast Trac k Marine C ore Se rv ice Str ategi cImpleme n tationPlan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

the I G. Thisboundary condition provided by the marine core service will release public andprivate downstream service providers from the need to duplicate the services provided by theMCS and enable them to focus on the many localised, tailored services that are required by endusers.

The intention to provide significant EU funding through the FP7 Space Programme to supportthe further development and demonstration of the MCS, whilst investment in downstreamservice provision is likely to fall mainly to Member States and commercial organizations,provides a countervailing pressure to maximize the size and scope of the MCS. The IG believesthis pressure to be unfortunate because it could deliver an unsustainable outcome in the longterm unless managed carefully. It would be a huge mistake to support development anddemonstration of a multiplicity of pre- operational systems (potentially with sub- optimalperformance) through FP7 which could not be sustained. This again argues for an MCS which isas small as necessary to deliver its fundamental purpose at the European scale. This is not todeny the need to build up expertise in Member States to use the MCS information for theirspecific needs. The issue of funding is discussed further in section 7.

A marine core service with the same geographical scope as the MyOcean prototype isapproximately the correct dimension. Any follow-ups should not aim to increase the coveragetowards the coast but rather focus on measuring and improving the quality of the existingservice.

3.6 Marine Core Service Functionality

Figure 2 essential functions of an MCS

Recognizing that the MCS must collect, quality control and process data, using numericalmodels and standard analytical tools, to produce and deliver, hindcasts, analyses and forecaststhe required operational functions of an MCS are as illustrated in Figure 2.

Briefly the functions are to:a. Acquire data from the ground segment of the space based observing systems and in situ

b. networks. Typically these will be at level 1 or 2 (See Appendix 4).

7/31/2019 Gmesmarine Core Service IMP Reformat

Date post:	04-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	neni-olya-fitra
View:	217 times
Download:	0 times

Gmesmarine Core Service IMP Reformatted Ims 2 Tc

Documents