Project description
Enhancing Copernicus’ capability to monitor European marine ecosystems
The ocean’s biodiversity supports the livelihood of almost half of the world's population. However, climate change and human activities endanger this biodiversity, which is why it needs to be continuously monitored. The European Copernicus Marine Service provides such marine monitoring, but the current models and methods have room for improvement. The EU-funded NECCTON project will fuse new data into innovative ecosystem models. This will enable the Copernicus Marine Service to offer products that are even more relevant for marine biodiversity conservation and marine food resource management globally, with special focus on regional European seas.
Objective
The ocean’s biodiversity supports the livelihoods of over three billion people, providing vital services, including food and nutrient cycling. However marine policy and resource management do not yet consider the latest scientific advances, even when the state-of-the-art operational models of the European Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) are used.
Our objective is to enable CMEMS to deliver novel products that inform marine biodiversity conservation and food resources management, by fusing new data into innovative ecosystem models that integrate biological and abiotic components, habitats, and stressors of marine ecosystems.
NECCTON will inter-link new models in the CMEMS systems, thus building novel capacities to simulate higher-trophic-levels, benthic habitats, pollutants, and deliver projections of climate change impacts. We will develop and exploit new data-processing chains, supporting CMEMS' use of novel ecosystem observations, including new hyperspectral data from satellites, as well as available acoustic, pollution and omics data. We will fuse these new data and models by using innovative machine-learning algorithms to improve models and data assimilation methods. These developments will be applied in thirteen case studies, co-designed with fisheries and conservation managers as part of our pathway-to-impact, resulting in the demonstration of Technological Readiness Level 6 of NECCTON products.
The project objectives will be achieved by a team of twenty-three world-class organizations with track records for all the key project components. It includes the CMEMS Entrusted Entity and core developers, who will promote the final uptake of NECCTON by CMEMS.
On project completion, NECCTON will provide CMEMS with the scientific and technical capabilities to sustain twenty-five new products in their operational portfolio, ultimately enabling users to make informed decisions on the exploitation of marine services, enhancing sustainability and conservation.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmarine biology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiodiversity conservation
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
31400 Toulouse
France
See on map
Participants (20)
5466 Asperup
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
5007 Bergen
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
4000 Liege
See on map
29280 Plouzane
See on map
34010 Sgonico-Trieste
See on map
3526 KV Utrecht
See on map
20359 Hamburg
See on map
31520 Ramonville St Agne
See on map
73100 Lecce
See on map
21502 Geesthacht
See on map
2800 Kongens Lyngby
See on map
19013 Attikia Anavissos
See on map
08031 Barcelona
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles Barcelona
See on map
3584 CS Utrecht
See on map
195 00 LAVRIO
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
9901-862 Horta
See on map
00185 Roma
See on map
75794 Paris
See on map
Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
75006 Paris
See on map
Partners (2)
EX1 3PB Exeter
See on map
PL1 3DH Plymouth
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.