The Project aims at the further development of an operational forecasting system for the Mediterranean Sea based upon three main components: a) the Near Real Time Observing system; b) the numerical forecasting systems at basin scale and for regional areas; c) the forecast products dissemination/exploitation system.
The problems to be solved belong to three major categories:
1) Technology developments, connected to the new instrumentation for NRT monitoring and the provision of NRT protocols for data dissemination, comprehensive of telecommunication technology and quality control procedures;
2) Scientific development, connected to the understanding of the sampling scheme for different measuring platforms, the design and implementation of data assimilation schemes for different spatial scales, the ecosystem modelling validation/calibration experiments at the basin and the coastal areas scale and the development of data assimilation techniques for biochemical data;
3) Exploitation developments, consisting of software interfaces between forecast products and oil spill modelling, general contaminant dispersion models, relocatable emergency systems, search and rescue models, and fish stock observing systems. In addition, the study of forecast economic value and impact will be carried out.