MarineEnvironment Monitoring Service

Marine Environment Monitoring Service
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service is part of the Copernicus Programme, which
is an EU Programme managed by the European Commission (EC) and implemented in partnership with
the Member States, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation
of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for medium-range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF), EU Agencies and Mercator Océan. The Programme is aimed at developing a set of European
information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data analyses.
What is the Copernicus
What does the Copernicus
Marine Environment Monitoring Service?
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring
Service provides regular and systematic information
about the physical state and dynamics of the ocean
and marine ecosystems for the global ocean and the
European regional seas. This data covers analysis of
the current situation, forecasts of the situation a few
days in advance and the provision of retrospective
data records (re-analysis).
Marine Environment Monitoring Service do?
The service provides information on the ocean for the
large scale (worldwide coverage) and regional scales
(main European basins and seas).
Typical products provided by the service are:
• Maps and data for oceanographic forecasts;
• Retrospective assessments of the sea state;
• Simulations of pollution transport;
• Inputs to fine scale analysis in coastal areas.
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service
calculates and provides products describing currents,
temperature, wind, salinity, sea level, sea ice and
biogeochemistry. These factors support marine and
maritime applications and related EU policies, e.g. in
the fields of:
Marine safety;
Marine and coastal environment;
Marine resources;
Weather, seasonal forecasting and climate.
In November 2014, the European Commission signed
a Delegation Agreement with Mercator Océan for the
implementation of the service. The service became
fully operational in April 2015.
Space
Some examples:
Shipping and sea rescue services
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service
collects observational data about the sea level, sea
surface temperature, sea ice and sea surface wind
using in-situ sensors and earth observation satellites
which can provide useful information for ship routing
services or search and rescue operations.
The Copernicus Marine Environment
Monitoring Service assimilates marine data
into 3D models and then reanalyses these
over long term periods in the past. This
work helps address marine and coastal
environment issues.
Products delivered by the Copernicus Marine
Environment Monitoring Service contribute to
the protection and sustainable management
of living marine resources, including fish
stock management.
Understanding weather
and climate change
Many of the data delivered by the service
(e.g. temperature, currents) play a crucial
role in the domain of weather, climate
and seasonal forecasting. The Service also
records the status of polar icecaps, which
helps us to understand the impact of climate
change.
What is the added value of the
Copernicus Marine Environment
Monitoring Service?
• The Service provides a single point of
access to a large variety of marine data and
information;
• The critical data produced by the Copernicus
Marine Environment Monitoring Service helps
scientists better understand the ocean and
EU regional seas;
• Monitoring of sea ice together with its
forecast can provide useful information to
marine transport in ice infested waters;
• The service provides useful information for
various activities in the context of fisheries
and mariculture, tourism, or the overall
management of coastal zones;
• Freely available high quality data opens
new possibilities in monitoring our marine
environment and enables new business
ideas in a wide area of marine activities.
A Japanese use case
(Fukushima):
Search and Rescue Scenario
Salinity:
Information relevant
for water quality monitoring
and pollution control
The Copernicus data policy promotes the
access, use and sharing of Copernicus
information and data on a full, free and
open basis.
Search and rescue scenario
Sea Surface Temperature
on a global scale
The Costa Concordia: Fuel leak simulation illustrated by
surface oil concentration (tonne/km²)
on March 31st 2011.
Photo credits: Ocean ©IStockphoto.com/Mercator-Ocean; Boat Istock ©vice_and_virtue; Fishes ©iStockphoto.com-MyOcean; Costa Concordia by courtesy of INGV ©; A japanese use case (Fukushima) ©MyOcean-Mercator Ocean; Salinity ©MyOcean-Mercator Ocean; Search and Rescue Scenario Screenshot by courtesy of Salvamento Marítimo ©; Sea Surface temperature ©MyOcean-Mercator Ocean.
Marine environment issues
Users can find out more about the products delivered by the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service at: http://marine.copernicus.eu
The products delivered by the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service are provided free of charge to registered users through a Catalogue available at: http://operation.myocean.eu/web/24-catalogue.php