GMES and Down-stream Services Following User Requirements: Examples on Regional And Coastal Scale

MyOcean as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) services provides information on the state of the oceans on a regular basis. The products are delivered on a global as well as on a regional scale like EU, covering the physical state of the ocean and primary ecosystem parameters. For local or coastal scales these Core Services very often do not meet the requirements of the potential end-user who needs information on e. g. marine safety, oil spills, marine resources and coastal management. For these local information needs Downstream Services derived from GMES Core Services, e.g. MyOcean products, but also directly from observation infrastructure are necessary. With Cosyna (Coastal Observation System for Northern and Arctic Seas) a national project between MyOcean and downstream services is established. The core of the project is an integrated pre-operational observation system which combines in-situ observations and remote sensing procedures with numerical models to obtain synoptic data sets of the southern North Sea and make basic infrastructure and continuous data available to the scientific community. The network provides intermediate products in terms of quality-assured time series and maps with high temporal and spatial resolution; end-users might produce their own end products. Integrated products cover processed information based on a combination of different observations and models, accompanied by instructions of use and optionally by interpretations. To enhance operational services in coastal areas improved forecasts with coupled models and data assimilation are developed in the EC funded FIELD_AC project (Fluxes, Interactions and Environment at the Land-Ocean Boundary. Downscaling, Assimilation and Coupling). The application area of the German partner is the German Bight. By means of a strong interaction with the Cosyna observational network main emphasis is laid on the user needs (e.g. of national agencies, coastal and harbour authorities, maritime service providers, marine consulting companies, etc) which are and will be addressed in different project user workshops.