ODYSSEA will develop, operate and demonstrate an interoperable and cost-effective platform that fully integrates networks of observing and forecasting systems across the Mediterranean basin, addressing both the open sea and the coastal zone.
Key Project Outputs

1) Launched the Marinomica Platform that integrates new and existing model and in situ observation systems to provide new products and knowledge for the Mediterranean Sea

2) Launched 9 new in situ observatories in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and along the North African Coast, including 8 glider missions, 5 surface observatories and 2 sea bed landers

3) Set up and operated new or extended models for wave power, coastal erosions, fisheries, benthic biodiversity, jellyfish blooms and water quality in the Mediterranean Sea

4) Engaged with and influenced different policy processes and actors at local, regional and international levels to fill observational gaps with new in situ and model observatories and further develop Marinomica’s role as a decision support tool.

5) Provided extensive capacity building activities with a range of end-users in North African Countries and around the Mediterranean.

6) Pioneered testing of new sensor technologies, including micro plastic sensors.

7) Held 2 academically accredited summer schools to educate postgraduates and early career scientists platform and data usage.

8) Developed a suite of products and services for Marinomica that combine data integrated from existing platforms (e.g. Copernicus) with new ODYSSEA model and in situ observatories and extract secondary policy relevant indicators on water quality wave power, jellyfish abundance and distribution and fisheries.

As part of a joint marine sustainability initiative, the EU-funded ODYSSEA project helped formulate its September 2021 policy document, “Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge: Ocean information for Sustainable Development”. ODYSSEA coordinator Prof. Georgios Sylaios is one of the document’s six primary authors, representing a collaborative effort, bringing together ten Horizon 2020-supported Blue Projects to focus on sustainable management of the marine environment.  The policy brief presented “Policy Challenges in Addressing Ocean Observation” and laid out a series of...