Forecasting and observing the open-to-coastal ocean for Copernicus users

Project Information

FOCCUS

Grant agreement ID: 101133911

DOI

10.3030/101133911

EC signature date 21 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 4 999 655,62

Coordinated by

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM HEREON GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FOCCUS (Forecasting and observing the open-to-coastal ocean for Copernicus users)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main ambition of FOCCUS is to improve and advance the coastal dimension of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) by enhancing existing capabilities and developing innovative coastal products. Designing and demonstrating the integration of Copernicus and Member State coastal services will allow seamless and fit-for-use monitoring and forecasting of the ocean from global to regional and coastal scales. Co-production of coastal services will reinforce the quality, efficiency and exploitation of Copernicus research and specific applications will demonstrate FOCCUS’s progress beyond the state-of-the-art for challenges such as the protection of the coastal zone, the development of a sustainable blue economy, and the building of coastal resilience to climate change, anthropogenic pressures, and natural hazards. At the heart of the proposed methodology is the use of new space (such as Sentinel satellites) and in-situ coastal observations, innovations in data fusion, data processing and visualization together with seamless numerical coastal prediction (including interfaces for downscaling from CMEMS), also connecting to the estuarine scale. Novel approaches are used to ensure CMEMS evolves at the forefront of modern research and technology, in-line with the innovation and digitization required for the European digital ocean and water knowledge system. FOCCUS ensures credible pathways for effective uptake and exploitation of key outcomes and research results by CMEMS and the wider user community, thereby fostering the acceptance and efficient application of novel information products by society. This will include demonstrations of the technical readiness of the proposed evolutions and active dialogue with European and international initiatives to ensure the global community is aware of FOCCUS, and that results contribute to wider efforts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

FOCCUS has contributed to improved retrievals of required Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in EU coastal regions, which are grouped considering the following 4 community sectors: climate, operational services, ocean health and ecosystems, and coastal change. Improved pan-European remote sensing (R/S, satellite and land-based) coastal observation retrievals are focusing on physical and biogeochemical parameters. New coastal products have been created by data fusion of in situ (INS) and R/S coastal data and by implementing new technologies and approaches for improving access, processing and data tracking. In addition, artificial intelligence (AI) methods have been applied to improve the quality of and to advance coastal observations. 14 new data products have been delivered and are accessible through the Zenodo platform and referenced in specific deliverables. An inventory of the available European coastal data products has also been carried out in order to understand the overall pan-European availability of coastal data. FOCCUS has also built on existing pan-European hydrological models and is developing a pan-European setup to provide river discharge inputs for ocean models. New data affecting nutrient flows have been incorporated, and improved calibration routines have resulted in a better description of internal model processes. An Estuary Box Model (EBM) has been further developed to represent the water exchange between riverine freshwater and marine salt water within three selected pilot estuary areas. Additions such as novel AI techniques have been incorporated to optimize the estimation of EOVs, and were detailed in specific deliverables. FOCCUS is strengthening the capacity of CMEMS to support member state coastal systems (MSCSs) by enhancing their coherency and by upgrading its systems for improved coupling and downscaling. 14 new modelling and data fusion approaches have been investigated to enhance the MSCSs using stochastic simulations, ensemble approaches, and AI technologies, which were detailed in specific deliverables. Efficient product chains are being developed to facilitate an advanced and seamless monitoring and forecasting of the ocean from the CMEMS global/regional systems to MSCSs through pilot demonstrations of new products and improved co-produced services between CMEMS and MSs. The applications have been successfully designed and are being built to demonstrate the added value for the protection of the coastal zone, the development of a sustainable blue economy (e.g. coastal and offshore operations), and the building of coastal resilience to climate change, anthropogenic pressures and natural hazards including storm surges, flooding, and degradation of ecosystems.

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)

In order to improve the understanding and quality of marine data in Europe, inventories of the current status of coastal data in different EU marine data services (i.e. CMEMS, EMODnet), as well as the existing European coastal modelling systems, have been performed to allow the identification of respective gaps in marine data services and modeling systems, and plans are underway how best to incorporate the enhanced data products and observations into member state coastal model validations and dedicated user applications. Additionally, improvements to understanding and expanding the link between land and ocean systems in Europe is underway through the design of Land Ocean Interfaces (LOI) with inland-estuary modelling to be established, for example to assess the link between hydrology model LISFLOOD-GREEN and an EBM to assess impacts and sensitivity testing on physical and biogeochemical variables. FOCCUS is improving the coupling, downscaling, and coherency of CMEMS support to MSCSs through the innovative development of processing chains, as well as the co-development of applications with stakeholders to address societal needs such as coastal erosion risk, marine heat waves, storm surge, and blue economy use cases. This co-production assists with the general applicability of FOCCUS applications in the other MSCS and regional predictions and helps to enhance the impact of CMEMS and to promote coastal forecasting and monitoring systems. To ensure further uptake and success, the project has collected stakeholder user needs in consideration throughout the design process.

The three key pillars of the FOCCUS project.

FOCCUS methodological concepts and their interactions.

Schematic representation of the coastal zone/hazards and observations.

Summary of FOCCUS Phase 1 achievements.