An integrated coastal map for the Maltese Islands

The Maltese coastal area, comprising its associated resources and services, is of substantial importance to the Maltese economy. An innovative web interface has been developed to combine information from different sources, including coastal properties, physical features, resources and amenities, into an innovative comprehensive interactive map of the Maltese coastline. It serves as a general informative tool for users in the public domain, bringing different layers of data together, and targeting a delivery over smart media like mobile phones and tablets.peer-reviewe

A spatial prioritisation exercise for marine spatial planning implementation within the North-East MPA of the Maltese Islands

The cumulative pressure/risk posed to both Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and maerl beds by ongoing maritime activities as well as the cumulative user-user conflict within the NE MPA were quantified and mapped to serve as a decision-support tool for MPA managers implementing MSP provisions in the area.peer-reviewe

Gap filling of the CALYPSO HF radar sea surface current data through past measurements and satellite wind observations

High frequency (HF) radar installations are becoming essential components of operational real-time marine monitoring systems. The underlying technology is being further enhanced to fully exploit the potential of mapping sea surface currents and wave fields over wide areas with high spatial and temporal resolution, even in adverse meteo-marine conditions. Data applications are opening to many different sectors, reaching out beyond research and monitoring, targeting downstream services in support to key national and regional stakeholders. In the CALYPSO project, the HF radar system composed of CODAR SeaSonde stations installed in the Malta Channel is specifically serving to assist in the response against marine oil spills and to support search and rescue at sea. One key drawback concerns the sporadic inconsistency in the spatial coverage of radar data which is dictated by the sea state as well as by interference from unknown sources that may be competing with transmissions in the same frequency band. This work investigates the use of Machine Learning techniques to fill in missing data in a high resolution grid. Past radar data and wind vectors obtained from satellites are used to predict missing information and provide a more consistent dataset.peer-reviewe

Oil spill risk assessment on the Maltese coastal areas

A significant percentage of the global oil transport goes through the Mediterranean sea. Most of the maritime traffic carrying oil and other dangerous liquid substances travels across the Malta Channel. The risk of marine spillages within the stretch of sea between Malta and Sicily is very high and beaching on the Maltese shores can cause irreversible environmental damage at the detriment of important economic resources. The aim of this work is to determine the probability and volume percentage of oil that would reach the coast in case of an accident in the proximity of the Maltese Islands. Various spill scenarios are considered to get a realistic estimate as much as possible.peer-reviewe

Assessing the offshore wave energy potential for the Maltese islands

Direct wave observations using a Datawell buoy deployed to the west of Gozo, and a numerical wave modeling exercise targeted to map the spatial and temporal signatures of the wave fields around the Maltese Islands over a span of five years (1st January 2007 to 31st December 2011) have been conducted within the BLUE OCEAN ENERGY® project. This has provided a detailed characterization of local wave climates and an estimation of the available wave energy potentials in the coastal and offshore areas of the Maltese Islands. This data is essential to assess the overall feasibility of constructing wave energy production farms based on WECs, to test the most adequate devices to harvest wave energy, as well as to identify the best candidate sites for an optimal and most economically practical extraction. The study reveals that the best sites in the Maltese waters would be those located at the western approaches to the islands, given that these are more exposed to the prevailing North-Westerly winds. At these sites, maximum significant wave heights can exceed 7 m in winter, even in close proximity to the coast, and with a seasonal mean of 1.92 m as determined from direct measurements. The mean wave power transport during the winter season is estimated at 15 kW m-1; the wave resource is more than halved in spring and even weaker in autumn; it is under 2 kW m-1 during summer. Stronger wave fields occur at a few kilometres to the South West of Filfla Island where the modelled mean wave power reaches values of 13 kW m-1 in the winter months, but at less accessible sites and greater distances from shore.Alternative Technologies Ltd., Energy Investment Ltd, JMV Vibro Blocks Ltd., Solar Engineering Ltd. and Solar Solutions Ltd.peer-reviewe

Applying the MyOcean MCS to the benefit of national users in Malta

The MyOcean MCS mainly provides data at the basin and regional scales. On the other hand local users require high resolution data products, especially for applications close to the coast. A major effort is needed to close the gap between global/regional scale data provision and demands for coastal applications in the form of specialized added-value services and products targeting stakeholders in coastal remits. This entails the integration and enhancement of MCS data with coastal scale observations and high resolution numerical model fields.peer-reviewe

A first attempt at testing correlation between MODIS ocean colour data and in situ chlorophyll-a measurements within Maltese coastal waters

The study of spatio-temporal trends for key water quality parameters in the Maltese coastal waters is hindered by the lack of systematic observations spanning over the full domain and for sufficiently long time periods. Satellite data offers an alternative source of information, but requires ground truthing against in situ measurements. The aim of this study is to attempt the statistical comparison of MODIS ocean colour data, for a near-shore marine area off the north-east coastline of Malta, with in situ surface chlorophyll-a measurements, and to extract a twelve-month ocean colour data series for the same marine area. Peaks in surface chlorophyll-a concentration occurred in the January-February period, with lowest values being recorded during the early spring period. Log bias values indicate that the MODIS dataset under-estimates the surface chlorophyll-a values, whilst RMSD and r2 values suggest that the match-up between satellite and in situ values is only partly consistent.peer-reviewe

Can we predict the dispersal path of a jellyfish bloom?

Jellyfish blooms occurring in coastal waters can be a source of risk for public health, fishery and all the related economical activities. The prediction of the environmental conditions that promote jellyfish outbreaks as well as the fate of the bloom are of high interest especially when dealing with CZM.peer-reviewe

CALYPSO an operational network of HF radars for the Malta-Sicily Channel

An HF radar observing system composed of three CODAR SeaSondes is providing real-time surface current pseudo-Eulerian maps every hour in the strip of sea dividing Malta and Sicily. This initiative forms part of the CALYPSO project that principally aims to support the efficient response against marine oil spills in this busy area of maritime transportation in the Mediterranean. In combination to numerical models, an operational chain of activities provides essential data to a spectrum of applications and addresses the needs of a number of responsible entities in Malta and Sicily, targeting the better control of the trans-boundary maritime space and greater efficiency for security and safety at sea. The usefulness of this effort is measured by the level of usage of the data provided by CALYPSO through dedicated web services with browsing, viewing, and user-defined download of data. The project comprised several validation and system performance tuning exercises through the matching of radar data with direct sea current measurements using drifters and ADCP deployments. The spatial coverage and high temporal resolution of the HF radar data collected since September 2012 is permitting a unique and detailed characterization of the surface circulation variability in the area at sub-to-mesoscale and seasonal scales. Substantial eddy field structures are evidenced; their origin, dynamics, evolution and linkages to biological processes and the location of fisheries is the subject of ongoing research.peer-reviewe

Unfolding jellyfish bloom dynamics along the Mediterranean basin by transnational citizen science initiatives

Science is addressing global societal challenges, and due to limitations in research financing, scientists are turning to the public at large to jointly tackle specific environmental issues. Citizens are therefore increasingly involved in monitoring programs, appointed as citizen scientists with potential to delivering key data at near to no cost to address environmental challenges, therein fostering scientific knowledge and advising policy- and decision-makers. One of the first and most successful examples of marine citizen science in the Mediterranean is represented by the integrative and collaborative implementation of several jellyfish-spotting campaigns in Italy, Spain, Malta, and Tunisia starting in 2009. Altogether, in terms of time coverage, geographic extent, and number of citizen records, these represent the most effective marine citizen science campaigns thus far implemented in the Mediterranean Sea. Here, we analyzed a collective database merging records over the above four countries, featuring more than 100,000 records containing almost 25,000 observations of jellyfish specimens collected over a period of 3 to 7 years (from 2009 to 2015) by citizen scientists participating in any of the national citizen science programs included in this analysis. Such a wide citizen science exercise demonstrates a valuable and cost-effective tool to understanding ecological drivers of jellyfish proliferation over the Western and Central Mediterranean basins, as well as a powerful contribution to developing tailored adaptation and management strategies; mitigating jellyfish impacts on human activities in coastal zones; and supporting implementation of marine spatial planning, Blue Growth, and conservation strategies.peer-reviewe