Autonomous Surface and Underwater Vehicles as Effective Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Platforms in the Arctic—The Glider Project

Effective ocean management requires integrated and sustainable ocean observing systems enabling us to map and understand ecosystem properties and the effects of human activities. Autonomous subsurface and surface vehicles, here collectively referred to as “gliders”, are part of such ocean observing systems providing high spatiotemporal resolution. In this paper, we present some of the results achieved through the project “Unmanned ocean vehicles, a flexible and cost-efficient offshore monitoring and data management approach—GLIDER”. In this project, three autonomous surface and underwater vehicles were deployed along the Lofoten–Vesterålen (LoVe) shelf-slope-oceanic system, in Arctic Norway. The aim of this effort was to test whether gliders equipped with novel sensors could effectively perform ecosystem surveys by recording physical, biogeochemical, and biological data simultaneously. From March to September 2018, a period of high biological activity in the area, the gliders were able to record a set of environmental parameters, including temperature, salinity, and oxygen, map the spatiotemporal distribution of zooplankton, and record cetacean vocalizations and anthropogenic noise. A subset of these parameters was effectively employed in near-real-time data assimilative ocean circulation models, improving their local predictive skills. The results presented here demonstrate that autonomous gliders can be effective long-term, remote, noninvasive ecosystem monitoring and research platforms capable of operating in high-latitude marine ecosystems. Accordingly, these platforms can record high-quality baseline environmental data in areas where extractive activities are planned and provide much-needed information for operational and management purposes

Real-time data to central server with display to stakeholders

This report “Real-time data to central server with display to stakeholders” describes the deployment of two monitoring stations at the aquaculture facilities at Deenish Island (Ireland) and El Campello (Spain), and how the real-time data is distributed to the different stakeholders in the aquaculture industry and the scientific community. The document is structured as follows. First, the background information is presented in the ‘Introduction’. Then, the equipment deployed at Deenish Island and El Campello is described in the ‘Ocean Demonstrator Deployments’ section. Finally, the different ways in which the real-time data is delivered to the stakeholders are presented in the last section ‘Data Delivery to Server’

SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements.

This study introduces an alternative to the existing methods for measuring ocean currents based on a recently developed technology. The SailBuoy is an unmanned surface vehicle powered by wind and solar panels that can navigate autonomously to predefined waypoints and record velocity profiles using an integrated downward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Data collected on two validation campaigns show a satisfactory correlation between the SailBuoy current records and traditional observation techniques such as bottom-mounted and moored current profilers and moored single-point current meter. While the highest correlations were found in tidal signals, strong current, and calm weather conditions, low current speeds and varying high wave and wind conditions reduced correlation considerably. Filtering out some events with the high sea surface roughness associated with high wind and wave conditions may increase the SailBuoy ADCP listening quality and lead to better correlations. Not yet resolved is a systematic offset between the measurements obtained by the SailBuoy and the reference instruments of ±0.03 m/s. Possible reasons are discussed to be the differences between instruments (various products) as well as changes in background noise levels due to environmental conditions

Lessons learnt on public-private interfaces in European ocean observing

The report analyses the interactions between the public and private organisations involved in the project activities as members of the project consortium, internal advisory boards and stakeholders. This strong, collaborative and interdisciplinary collaboration between public and private sectors is essential to improve ocean observing and forecasting systems with innovative technological solutions also in support of the implementation process of important global strategies related to the ocean

Sustainability and Business Plan Report

This deliverable outlines the sustainability and business plan of the Key Exploitable Result (KER) identified in WP6 with the most potential for commercialisation. The report includes a summary of the KER Solution for marine sensors to measure and forecast oxygen, heat and pH related Extreme Marine Events onsite for aquaculture – monitoring system for extreme marine events at aquaculture sites (WP6), a market analysis in terms of the market size and value, target market, competition, market needs that are being addressed as a result of the co-development process. Information is provided on agreements arranged to continue the service in the demonstrator post project with the creation of MOUs between industry partners and a service level agreement with the cloud provider EGI foundation. The report reviews the size of the markets for the KER, the viable commercial plan and the investment sources to be pursued to further develop the results

Best practice on creating "Extreme Marine Events" Hazard maps & forecasts Report

This report presents steps for the design and implementation of a marine observatory providing current and forecasted oceanic conditions relevant to the aquaculture sector, with particular focus on “Extreme Marine Events”. Examples of successful implementation of these guidelines in the framework of the EuroSea project are presented for two aquaculture sites: Deenish Island in Ireland and El Campello in Spain. The process starts with stakeholder interaction to understand their main needs and concerns and is followed by the design of the software architecture that carries out the data acquisition, post-processing and visualisation in an open-access web platform. User feedback is of paramount importance during the whole process to ensure the services offered match the needs of the aquaculture sector

Development of targeted indicators and their uncertainties for demonstrators and Forecasts

This deliverable reports on the achievements of the EuroSea project in developing targeted indicators co-designed with demonstrators (WPs 5–7) and forecasts (WP4). For this, the indicators implemented are expressed in term of Essential Ocean/Climate Variables (EOVs/ECVs) together with their requirements. The co-development undertaken address ocean indicators for all range of scales: from the large, basin scale to the regional and local scales. Such approach as well as the proposed solution to focus, at regional/local scales, on EEZs, represent one of the innovative results of EuroSea that will help to rationalize risks assessments and guide environmental management approaches in European Seas

High individual repeatability and population differentiation in stable isotope ratios in winter-grown collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis feathers

For migrants, we often lack complete information of their spatial distribution year round. Here, we used stable carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen isotope ratios extracted from feathers grown at the wintering sites of the long-distance migratory collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis, to study how individuals from different breeding populations are distributed at the wintering sites. A sub-sample of birds was also sampled in two consecutive years to test for the repeatability of isotope ratios. Birds from the same breeding populations had more similar isotope ratios compared to birds from other nearby populations (10–100 km apart). Furthermore, isotope repeatability within individuals was high, implying that the observed pattern of isotope variation is consistent between years. We put forward two hypotheses for these patterns; 1) strong wintering site philopatry and migratory connectivity, suggesting that migratory connectivity may potentially be found on a much smaller spatial scale than previously considered, and 2) consistent interpopulation differentiation of feeding ecology at their wintering site.