Data comparison between three acoustic doppler current profilers deployed in OBSEA platform in north-western Mediterranean

Three different Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) have been deployed in OBSEA platform, a 20 meters depth underwater observatory cabled with a 4 km mixt cable to Vilanova i la Geltru’s coast. Two months of continuous data have been collected in order to confirm their proper operation and long term North current characteristic from the areaPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

MELOA Catalogue and GeoPortal: A modern approach for open access and visualization of in situ drifter data

The MELOA H2020 project proposes to develop a low-cost, easy-to-handle, wave resilient, multi-purpose, multi-sensor, extra light surface drifter for use in all water environments: The WAVY drifters. The data products generated by the MELOA project are openly accessible through standard-based Catalogue and Geoportal to promote the availability of the data to other communities such as GEOSS or Copernicus. MELOA will provide an effective way to monitor surface currents and surface dynamic features and temperature at different levels. A complete Software Ecosystem is developed in MELOA to manage the transmission of data from the WAVY drifters, raw files collection, campaigns operation and data curation and consolidation of data products to make the data openly accessible through the Catalogue and Geoportal. Driven by FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable) data principles and state-of-the-art data visualization technologies, the following components are described: 1) A Data Catalogue to make WAVYs data and metadata accessible in standard formats such as Comma-separated values (CSV), Observations & Measurements (O&M), Data Catalogue Vocabulary (DCAT); allowing interoperability with other Earth Observation (EO) catalogues. 2) A Data Geoportal, exposing interoperable Web Services such as Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) Web Feature Service and OGC’s Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) services and effective data visualization taking advantage of Vector Tiles technology.This work was supported by the project MELOA from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement N°. 776280. This work uses the EGI research infrastructure with dedicated support for MELOA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Generation WAVY: a new breed of surface drifters for all ocean domains

A new family of multi-purpose, multi-sensor, small sized, easy-to-handle, low-cost, spherical surface drifters is about to appear in the market, with its first three models. The WAVY Ocean is a current, wave and near-surface temperature gradient tracker for the open Ocean; the WAVY Littoral is a current and wave tracker designed for nearshore operations; and the WAVY Basic is a current and nearsurface temperature tracker intended for riverine and estuarine environments, and suitable for citizen science. The WAVY optimized buoyancy - only 30% of the axes above the surface - ensures that their displacement is essentially due to the current, while their small size makes them sensitive to the average vectors in the very near surface. Examples of WAVY Ocean full resolution data from recent observations illustrate the performance and the potential of these drifters in operational missions requiring near-real time data of the very near surface of the ocean.This is a contribution to Project MELOA (Multipurpose/Multi-sensor Extra Light Oceanography Apparatus - H2020-SC5-2017-OneStageB). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776825.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

MELOA catalogue, geoportal and data services: a modern approach for a marine in-situ measurements spatial data infrastructure and data services

The MELOA project (https://www.ec-meloa.eu/) proposes to develop a low-cost, easy-to-handle, wave resilient, multi-purpose, multi-sensor, extra light surface drifter for use in all water environments, ranging from deep-sea to inland waters, including coastal areas, river plumes and surf zones. Given the low infuence of wind upon the drifters’ displacements, MELOA will provide a cheap efective way to monitor surface currents and surface dynamic features anywhere in the World Ocean. Through equipping the drifters with thermistors at two diferent levels, the possibility is open for monitoring “ nearskin temperature” and near-surface A complete Software Ecosystem is developed in MELOA to transmit the measurements from the WAVY drifters’ sensors via GPRS or satellite communications (Argos), or Wi-Fi for the raw log fles through a Mobile Application (WavyHub); manage the test campaigns and launches and curating the data through the WAVY Operation Software; generate the Data Products in CSV and O&M formats through the L1 Processor; and disseminate and make the data openly accessible through the Catalogue, Geoportal and Data Services.This work was supported by the project MELOA from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 776280 . This work uses research infrastructur e s from EGI (INCD and IFCA CSIC -UC) with dedicated support for MELOA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The potential of video imagery from worldwide cabled observatory networks to provide information supporting fish-stock and biodiversity assessment

Seafloor multiparametric fibre-optic-cabled video observatories are emerging tools for standardized monitoring programmes, dedicated to the production of real-time fishery-independent stock assessment data. Here, we propose that a network of cabled cameras can be set up and optimized to ensure representative long-term monitoring of target commercial species and their surrounding habitats. We highlight the importance of adding the spatial dimension to fixed-point-cabled monitoring networks, and the need for close integration with Artificial Intelligence pipelines, that are necessary for fast and reliable biological data processing. We then describe two pilot studies, exemplary of using video imagery and environmental monitoring to derive robust data as a foundation for future ecosystem-based fish-stock and biodiversity management. The first example is from the NE Pacific Ocean where the deep-water sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) has been monitored since 2010 by the NEPTUNE cabled observatory operated by Ocean Networks Canada. The second example is from the NE Atlantic Ocean where the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) is being monitored using the SmartBay observatory developed for the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatories. Drawing from these two examples, we provide insights into the technological challenges and future steps required to develop full-scale fishery-independent stock assessments.This work was funded by the following project activities: ARIM (Autonomous Robotic sea-floor Infrastructure for benthopelagic Monitoring; MartTERA ERA-Net Cofound), ARCHES (Autonomous Robotic Networks to Help Modern Societies; German Helmholtz Association), RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spanish Government), RESNEP (CTM2017-82991-C2-1-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spanish Government), and SmartLobster (EMSO-LINK Trans National Access-TNA). The EMSO_SmartBay cabled observatory was funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) as part of a SFI Research Infrastructure Award Grant No. 12/RI/2331.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Data comparison between three acoustic doppler current profilers deployed in OBSEA platform in north-western Mediterranean

Three different Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) have been deployed in OBSEA platform, a 20 meters depth underwater observatory cabled with a 4 km mixt cable to Vilanova i la Geltru’s coast. Two months of continuous data have been collected in order to confirm their proper operation and long term North current characteristic from the areaPeer Reviewe

MELOA catalogue, geoportal and data services: a modern approach for a marine in-situ measurements spatial data infrastructure and data services

The MELOA project (https://www.ec-meloa.eu/) proposes to develop a low-cost, easy-to-handle, wave resilient, multi-purpose, multi-sensor, extra light surface drifter for use in all water environments, ranging from deep-sea to inland waters, including coastal areas, river plumes and surf zones. Given the low infuence of wind upon the drifters’ displacements, MELOA will provide a cheap efective way to monitor surface currents and surface dynamic features anywhere in the World Ocean. Through equipping the drifters with thermistors at two diferent levels, the possibility is open for monitoring “nearskin temperature” and near-surface A complete Software Ecosystem is developed in MELOA to transmit the measurements from the WAVY drifters’ sensors via GPRS or satellite communications (Argos), or Wi-Fi for the raw log fles through a Mobile Application (WavyHub); manage the test campaigns and launches and curating the data through the WAVY Operation Software; generate the Data Products in CSV and O&M formats through the L1 Processor; and disseminate and make the data openly accessible through the Catalogue, Geoportal and Data Services.This work was supported by the project MELOA from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 776280. This work uses research infrastructures from EGI (INCD and IFCA CSIC-UC) with dedicated support for MELOA.Peer Reviewe

The WAVY drifters : Sensor and data validation

The WAVY family of drifters, developed in the EU H2020 project MELOA, range from small drifters suitable for beach and surf zone studies to somewhat larger drifters, tailored for coastal and long-term open ocean observations, and consists of fve members, namely the WAVYs Basic (WB), Littoral (WL), Ocean (WO), Ocean-plus (WP) and Ocean-Atmo (WA). The WB and WL are currently at TRL 8, having been validated and used in real operational environments in a series of demonstrative use cases; the WOs are currently at TRL6 and undergoing use cases designed to bring them to TRL8. This paper presents the latest work done in the validation of three capabilities of the drifters: tracking of the ocean’s surface currents; measurement of wave parameters and measurement of sea surface temperatures.Peer Reviewe

Multiparametric monitoring of fish activity rhythms in an Atlantic coastal cabled observatory

Cabled video-observatories offer new opportunities to monitor fish species at frequencies and durations never attained before, quantifying the behavioural activities of their individuals, and providing ancillary data to inform stock assessment (in a fishery-independent manner). In this context, our objective was to improve the ecological monitoring capability of SmartBay observatory (20 m depth, Galway Bay, Ireland), through a pilot study dedicated to tracking of fish counts (as a proxy of populations activity rhythms), in a context where species behaviour and consequent community turnover may occur at different temporal cycles (i.e. tidal versus day-night). In order to understand how animals can regulate their behavioural activity upon those cycles, we enforced a time-lapse (1 h interval) image collection and concomitant multiparametric oceanographic plus acoustic data acquisition continuously during 24 h, over 30 days in August 2018 (when turbidity is at minimum). For each image, we classified and then counted all visible fish and derived count time series. Periodogram and waveform analyses were used to calculate their fluctuations' periodicity (i.e. the ruling cycle) and phase (i.e. peak timing in relation to the cycle). A total of 12 marine teleost species were pictured with Trisopterus minutus, Trachurus trachurus and Chelidonichthys lucerna characterized by day-night related rhythms, while others, such as Trisopterus luscus and Gadus morhua, were influenced by the tidal cycle. 24 h count patterns were compared together and investigated for time-based ecological niche-partitioning in a wave and current-affected soundscape. These findings were discussed in relation to the ecology of species and the feasibility of promising observatory-based monitoring applications in fishery assessment practices, when targeted species have commercial value.Dr. J. Aguzzi and J. del Rio are members of the CSIC-UPC Associated Unit “Tecnoterra”, managing the OBSEA platform, an EMSO testing-site. This work was developed within the framework of the Projects ADVANCE (H2020 INFRAIA-2014-2015 grant agreement 654410, Jerico-Next TNA), RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R) and ARIM (Autonomous Robotic sea-floor Infrastructure for benthopelagic Monitoring; MarTERA ERA-Net Cofound). The SmartBay cabled observatory was funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) as part of an SFI Research Infrastructure Award under Grant No. 12/RI/233.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft