PLOCAN has joined the II European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) Technology Forum, organized by EuroGOOS, European agent of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), with support and collaboration by the European projects MINKE and EuroSea (both from the Horizon 2020 Program) and endorsed as United Nations (UN) Ocean Decade activity.
Technology forums such as EOOS offer the opportunity to review the current technological capacities for ocean observation and prediction, including the most relevant services, while allowing to identify new scientific and technology priorities, fostering dialogue, the exchange of experiences and planning with international partners and stakeholders towards a more coordinated response to global challenges and societal needs related to the global ocean and seas from a technological perspective in line with the EuroGOOS objectives.
The II EOOS Technology Forum has dealt with the technologies that will be needed to achieve two specific goals of the United Nations Decade for Ocean Sciences and Sustainable Development: “A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and removed” and “A healthy and resilient ocean where marine ecosystems are mapped and protected”, and brought together up to 124 participants representing instrument manufacturers, technicians, technologists, and scientists across the public and private sectors from several continents
PLOCAN has joined the session on Instrument Platforms and Integration, with the oral presentation “Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) technology in support to EOOS”, on the initiative coordinated by PLOCAN in partnership with the MARUM – Ocean Sciences Center of Bremen University in Germany, the National Oceanographic Center (NOC) in United Kingdom, and the Laboratory of Unmanned Systems (LSTS) of the University of Porto, for the implementation of an international network related to unmanned surface vehicles for ocean surface monitoring joined by developers, operators, users and stakeholders, in the framework of the EuroSea project in support of the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) strategy under the auspices of EuroGOOS.
Throughout the three days event, which included high-level presentations, discussion panels and specific thematic sessions, different strategic topics were analyzed and discussed. Among others, the session on the role of cutting-edge technology and planned to achieve the goals of the Decade of the Oceans stands out, which included talks on the Marine Life 2030 program, Ocean Biomolecular Observing Networks, marine litter monitoring and the Digital Twin of the Ocean.
The Forum scheduled a session on the role of technology providers, which addressed the current technology landscape, as well as ways to achieve an integrated and distributed multi-parameter ocean network, and how to establish a strong and reliable data value chain. The integration of multiple platforms and the potential for new platforms was a major topic of discussion. Beyond observation technology, the role of cyber-infrastructure and applications of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was highlighted. Finally, the forum compiled the strategic actions that Europe and EOOS can undertake in this Decade to help improve the connections and interactions between research, applications and technological development.
More information here.
