Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MyOcean FO (Pre-Operational Marine Service Continuity in Transition towards Copernicus) Reporting period: 2014-10-01 to 2015-05-31 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project The main objective of the MyOcean Follow On project is to ensure the continuity of service from previous MyOcean and MyOcean2 projects in order to provide a seamless transition to the following Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service to begin early 2015. It means that the technical objectives are to deliver and operate a rigorous, robust and sustainable Copernicus service component for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting and thus help implement a stable and sustainable system configuration, including both service and organisation.In continuity to MyOcean2, the MyOcean-FO objective was to deliver and operate a rigorous, robust and sustainable Copernicus marine service component for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting in continuity with past and ongoing initiatives in the GMES and EU marine research framework, and thus help implement a stable and sustainable system configuration, including both service and organisation, to enable the next Copernicus Marine Service operational phase. Besides continuity and operational consolidation, MyOcean-FO included the necessary development activity to enable and sustain an operational service, with new improvements required by users or new capabilities driven by the context of Operational Oceanography, in particular related to the uptake of the newly available Sentinel satellite data.MyOcean-FO's raison d'être is its service commitment to users. They are European agencies and policy convention offices, national public institutions with operational and/or research objectives, private companies developing their own downstream services, and also European citizens on the lookout for a new vision of the oceans. MyOcean-FO users operate in four spheres of application, marine safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment, and weather, climate & seasonal forecasting. MyOcean-FO delivers generic information on the physical state of the ocean and ecosystem characteristics to these European and international user communities. The project is designed to provide reliable and timely information on ocean monitoring and forecasting. A central organisation will continue operating the current MyOcean2 service, to respond to user requests and feedback in accordance with Service Level Agreements. The MyOcean-FO service offer is based on an 'open & free access' data policy.MyOcean Follow On is driven by five main objectives:• A user driven service: provide a sustainable service validated and commissioned by users; • A pan-European organization: to propose and implement a long-term service provision organization with a stable governance and financial model;• A core service: to propose the product and service portfolio of the European Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting component of the GMES Marine Service;• An integrated capacity: to organise a robust and optimised OMF/GMS production and service infrastructure, in order to achieve economies of scale; • A methodology for development: to propose a methodological approach, compliant with best European standards and practices. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far I.2.1 A user driven service: provide a sustainable service validated and commissioned by usersIt is one of the main goals of the MyOcean-Follow On project to strengthen the links with the users, at different levels:• The main interfaces for the users are the MyOcean Service Desk (human organisation) and the MyOcean Web Portal. Through these interfaces, day-to-day communication and information are provided to users, for instance about production outages. Through the same interfaces, users can interact with the MyOcean Service, ask questions, raise problems, get information about products and their quality, etc. At the end of the MyOcean2 project, more than 5000 users are registered to the service and more than 140 operational uses are daily dependent on the MyOcean service to operate their own downstream service.• The project is also organised so that the management and the governance bodies are in close relationship with the main stakeholders among which some are also users. This is the case for example of European agencies using MyOcean products.• The cross-cutting Work Package 3 specifically deals with “User Uptake at National and regional levels”. An important task has been performed with a large number of demonstrations of the use of MyOcean products and services by the downstream sector. This also helps getting feedback from real applications. A new area of applications has also started to be investigated with the MyOcean response to the ICES call about Supply of Operational oceanography Products and Services.• WP2 (Service Evolution, Management and support) manages all the processes needed to translate user needs (requirements) into Service Specifications (see Figure 1). While all the Service and System requirements have been fully revisited during the previous MyOcean2 project, MyOcean Follow On has been more focused on the collection of user feedback about the service, from daily interactions with users (mainly through the Service Desk) and by questionnaires which proved that users are very keen to be involved in the Service definition process.• Users are also engaged in the service validation process by the project (WP2) with specific tasks defined for Beta-testers when a new version is being deployed in operations. This allows useful feedback from experimented users in different application areas. I.2.2 A pan-European organization: to propose and implement a long-term service provision organization with a stable governance and financial modelThe MyOcean Follow On project, in continuation to MyOcean2, has proposed both structuration and organisation of the Copernicus Marine Service. MyOcean Follow On proposes a model of governance that should evolve for the next Copernicus operational phase. In particular the model of a unified Service from a user point of view, supported by a strongly distributed architecture for production functions and integrated by a Central Information System should serve for the future phase. In addition, the importance of cross-cutting activities, not only for high level management but also for common technical activities throughout the different sub-systems proved to be an efficient tool for managing important issues. One meaningful example is provided by the MyOcean Ocean State Report which is a unique example of a common re-processing and re-analysis effort for a description of the state of the ocean at global and regional scales.This organisation relies on existing and experienced operational centres in Europe. The sharing of activities takes into account the specific skills of each partner and avoids duplication of efforts. Though the production is distributed in more than 30 different production units, they are gathered in coordinated production centres delivering the ocean products in a standard and unified manner so that the MyOcean Service offers a unique catalogue and interface to users. Early 2014, the European Commission issued a Request for Expression of Interest for candidate entities to be entrusted with parts of the implementation of the Copernicus Services, and in particular for the Marine Service. At the end of the process, Mercator Ocean was chosen as the entrusted entity for the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), and for implementing the service through procurements (open calls) based on a service architecture which proved to be efficient during MyOcean, MyOcean2 and MyOcean Follow On.I.2.3 A core service: product and service portfolio of the European Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting component of the Copernicus Marine Service;The MyOcean service offers:• A core Service, Open and Free: MyOcean provides core products and services from observation and model analyses and forecasts in a unique and standard interface freely available to downstream providers and end users.• A Catalogue of products and services: all products and services are freely accessible from the MyOcean catalogue: Information, visualisation and downloading. Downloading data products requires registration. Service Level Agreements establish the link between MyOcean and its users in which MyOcean commits to provide products in standard interfaces, to ensure maintenance of the system and assistance to users• Products cover different ocean variables: currents, temperature and salinity, surface winds, sea level, biogeochemistry and sea ice for different European regions and at global scale, in real time, forecast and reanalysis modes. During the MyOcean Follow On project, many changes and improvements have been brought to the Catalogue of products and services, essentially through the fifth version of the service delivered at the end of the project:• New input satellite observation data in the Copernicus Marine Service products: use of Sentinel-1 SAR data, inclusion of HY-2A and Rapidscat scatterometer, GOES-W /IMAGER and MSG2/SEVIRI• Observation product improvements: new atmospheric corrections and quality assessment for Ocean Colour data, new data fusion algorithm for global multi-sensor observation products• Data assimilation improvements: Glider assimilation and use of boundary conditions from the global system in the Mediterranean system; Baltic reanalysis products will assimilate satellite SST, T&S In Situ data, Sea Ice thickness and biogeochemical data; New NPP/VIIRS and AMSR2 microwave data assimilation into the North West Shelf (NWS) system• Analysis and forecast numerical model improvements: Introduction of a forecasting service from the global biogeochemical model; New assimilation schemes and forcing fields, together with numerical model updates will be introduced in almost all regional and global MFCs• Extension of reanalysis long time series for the Global Ocean, Arctic and Mediterranean sea products• Improvement of the spatial resolution: for the Global ocean multi-observation product and of the biogeochemistry Mediterranean model outputs• Improvement of temporal resolution: Daily outputs from the Global reanalysis model; 2-hourly surface outputs from the Global 1/12° model and daily surface outputs from the Mediterranean system• New physical or biogeochemical parameters: Introduction of silicate in the Global Ocean biogeochemistry reanalysis, mixed layer depth in Global Ocean physical reanalysis and sea bed temperature in the NWS reanalysis.• Analysis and forecast numerical model improvements: Introduction of a forecasting service from the global biogeochemical model; New assimilation schemes and forcing fields, together with numerical model updates will be introduced in almost all regional and global MFCs• Extension of reanalysis long time series: For the Global Ocean, Arctic and Mediterranean sea products• Improvement of the spatial resolution: For the Global ocean multi-observation product and of the biogeochemistry Mediterranean model outputs• Improvement of temporal resolution: Daily outputs from the Global reanalysis model; 2-hourly surface outputs from the Global 1/12° model and daily surface outputs from the Mediterranean system• New physical or biogeochemical parameters: Introduction of silicate in the Global Ocean biogeochemistry reanalysis, mixed layer depth in Global Ocean physical reanalysis and sea bed temperature in the NWS reanalysis.I.2.4 An integrated capacity: robust and optimised production and service infrastructure to achieve economies of scale; The MyOcean Follow On system proposes an integrated production and service capacity for the Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting component of the Copernicus Marine Service. As stated previously, the production function has been gathered in coordinated Production Centres managing several Production units.All Service functions including Evolution, Management and support are managed centrally, which brings more consistency and more collaboration between the involved teams. The project worked efficiently providing different functions: service definition, engineering and transition, product management, change and release management, operation of the Service Desk.MyOcean Follow On, in continuation to MyOcean2, has implemented cross-cutting functions to manage common technical or scientific issues. This appeared to be a strong asset during the project. Indeed, cross-cutting work packages bring more coordination in their respective domains, avoiding duplication of efforts or potential conflicting actions among the different Production CentresI.2.5 A methodology for development: to propose a methodological approach, compliant with best European standards and practices.The MyOcean projects have proposed a methodology of development based on standards methods used for instance in the space industry. This was needed for structuring the work done by all partners in the context of a new system development. The main concepts and engineering methods have been used for the MyOcean Follow On project. They have been adapted to the specificity of the domain and to the structure of the MyOcean system of systems. In particular, the concept of system and sub-systems is kept as a strong driver: the system is the MyOcean system of interest as seen by the users as the one delivering the Service. The sub-systems are the main components of the system, such as the Production Centres, the Central Information System and the Service Desk (human organisation), as illustrated in Figure 3.MyOcean Follow On has operated a system from the beginning of the project (MyOcean Service in version 4). Consequently any development, modification or evolution to the MyOcean Service had to be planned and designed taking into account the existing version in operations at the time of the new design. This has been recognised as a major driver for the development methodology with the concept of “Continuous Development in Operations”.The development methodology for MyOcean Follow On thus results from the continuity in the standards adopted for development and from the need to operate continuously the system at the same time. To address simultaneously the operational service delivery and the preparation of evolutions, beside the standard V cycle, the MyOcean Follow On adopted the same methodology as in MyOcean2 and integrated shorter lifecycle led by the change management process and controlled by its main body: the SCAMG (Service/System/Subsystem Change Approval and Management Group). The full V cycle model is applied to major versions scheduled in the Project Development Plan (part of the Project Management Plan). Thus these developments have phase milestones with notably the following main reviews : • PDR (top level) and Design Workshop (sub system level) at the end of the “design” phase• VARR (top level) and Acceptance Workshop (sub-system level) at the end of the integration and verification phases Other evolutions not scheduled in the initial development plan but evaluated by the SCAMG as major evolutions due to their impact on users or on the system, are associated to the main versions and thus follow the same complete V cycle.Standard and regular maintenance, correction and bug fixing, minor evolutions (apart from important evolutions associated to V5) follow a light but formal qualification process formalized through the SCAMG. The change is described in a Request For Change (RFC) and the SCAMG evaluates the category of the change, approves the development of the RFC through a CCR – (Changes Commission Review) and its integration into the system through a DRI (Delivery Readiness Inspection).Besides the review process which is directly derived from the adopted methodology, the internal organisation and methodology is based on a close collaboration between all partners, mainly coordinated by the management bodies and by the cross-cutting work packages.One Executive Committee meeting has been organised during the last 8 months of the project with decisions directly linked to end of the FP7 and H2020 phase and the preparation of the transition to full operations in frame of Copernicus. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) The EC/H2020 MyOcean Follow On project has been set up in the perspective of the Copernicus Marine Service as an operational continuity of the EC/FP7 MyOcean2 (2012-2014) services for the 8 month period from October 2014 to May 2015. The main objective of this project has been to ensure the continuity of the service for the users, bridging from the previous FP7 MyOcean and MyOcean2 projects to the operational phase of the Marine Service in the frame of the Copernicus Programme: the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service. Therefore the main objective of the project was to deliver and operate a rigorous, robust and sustainable Copernicus service component for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting and thus help implement a stable and sustainable system configuration, including both service and organisation, to enable the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service operational phase to begin in early 2015. The MyOcean Service, implemented by the MyOcean Follow On project, is committed to its users. They are European agencies and policy convention offices, national public institutions with operational and/or research objectives, private companies developing their own downstream services, and also European citizens on the lookout for a new vision of the oceans. MyOcean users operate in four spheres of application, marine safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment, and weather, climate & seasonal forecasting. MyOcean2 delivers generic information on the physical state of the ocean and ecosystem characteristics to these European and international user communities. The MyOcean Service provides core ocean information at global and European regional scales, from satellite and in-situ observations and from assimilative models in real time and over long time series. Essential ocean variables such as Currents, Temperature, Salinity, Sea Level, Sea Ice, Surface winds and Biogeochemistry are made available in a common catalogue presented in a single easy-access interfaceThe project has been designed to provide reliable and timely information on ocean monitoring and forecasting. A central organisation continues to operate the service, to respond to user requests and feedback in accordance with Service Level Agreements. The MyOcean open and free service is in line with the Copernicus Data Policy and responsive to user wishes. The project has implemented the fifth version of the MyOcean Service. The organisation implemented by MyOcean Follow On paves the way for next Copernicus operational phase as it is fully integrated at the pan-European scale, integrating state-of-the-art S&T capacities, interfaced with stakeholder facilities, compliant with the INSPIRE data architecture and ready for operations.The MyOcean “System of systems” relies on existing European operational oceanography infrastructures and is composed of 12 main Production Centres – 5 Thematic Assembly Centres (TAC) providing observation products and 7 Monitoring and Forecasting Centres (MFC) dealing with modelling and assimilation. Each Production Centre, responsible for its domain or area, reduces unnecessary duplication. It integrates into the overall MyOcean system through a Central Information System managing data flows and providing a unique and standard interface to users. The service and system has been made possible by rigorous project management and engineering methodologies for both system and organisation, including common planning, milestones and reviews according to standard guidelines and assessed by external experts. Strong standardisation efforts in product quality and performance in all Production Centres have also been centrally coordinated to provide users with reliable and unified product quality information.At the end of the MyOcean Follow On project, more than 5000 users are registered to the service and more than 140 operational users are depending every day on the MyOcean service for providing their own downstream service to the end users. MyOcean offers a fully monitored service through a unified catalogue of products, based on an integrated System of Systems and acting as a single organisation. The MyOcean Follow On project has totally ensured the transition to Copernicus which took over the service from May 2015.
