Coastal systems are of the most productive ones although they are the most impacted by direct pressures from human activities. These ecosystems exhibit a high level of complexity with many different and interconnected processes operating at various spatial and temporal scales and providing a range of ecosystem services. Coastal observations are tremendous importance in order to understand those complex marine processes. Moreover, they support the use and further development of coastal ocean numericalmodels, including physicalmodels and coupled physical-biogeochemical models. Coastal data have also many applications in the domain of coastal engineering such as for instance in the design of a coastal structure, or in the prevention of extreme events (e.g. flooding). As a consequence, the number of marine observing systems has quickly increased around European coastal seas, under the pressure of both monitoring requirements and marine research. Present demands for such observing systems include reliable, high-quality and comprehensive observations of key environmental parameters, automated platforms and sensors systems for continuous observations, as well as autonomy over long time periods. In-situ data collected can be combined with remote sensing and/or models to detect, understand and/or forecast the most crucial coastal processes over extensive areas within the various marine environments. In Europe, significant heterogeneity exists when it relates to marine observing systems, would it be technological design, measured parameters, practices for maintenance and quality control, as well as quality standards for sensors and data exchange. This can partly be explained by the fact that, most "coastal observatories" have been designed following national/regional research priorities and mainly undertaken through a series of short-term research projects. A main challenge for the European marine research community is therefore to harmonise the technologies, increase the consistency and the sustainability of these infrastructures by sharing know-how, establishing best practices and s agreeing on a consensual roadmap for the future of coastal observatories within a shared pan-European framework. These considerations led about thirty institutions in Europe to organise their coastal observation systems in a pan European Research Infrastructure: the JERICO-RI (www.jerico-ri.eu), and to build up this integrated infrastructure following a long-term approach This article and the following in this special issue of Journal of Marine Systems are focusing on some results of the FP7 JERICO project (2011-2015), which is briefly presented in the next section. Section 3 introduces the articles of this special issue, presenting the most relevant results supported by the use and the further development of the JERICO-RI. Some general conclusions are drawn in Section 4.
Progress in marine science supported by European joint coastal observation systems: The JERICO-RI research infrastructure
S Sparnocchia
2016
Abstract
Coastal systems are of the most productive ones although they are the most impacted by direct pressures from human activities. These ecosystems exhibit a high level of complexity with many different and interconnected processes operating at various spatial and temporal scales and providing a range of ecosystem services. Coastal observations are tremendous importance in order to understand those complex marine processes. Moreover, they support the use and further development of coastal ocean numericalmodels, including physicalmodels and coupled physical-biogeochemical models. Coastal data have also many applications in the domain of coastal engineering such as for instance in the design of a coastal structure, or in the prevention of extreme events (e.g. flooding). As a consequence, the number of marine observing systems has quickly increased around European coastal seas, under the pressure of both monitoring requirements and marine research. Present demands for such observing systems include reliable, high-quality and comprehensive observations of key environmental parameters, automated platforms and sensors systems for continuous observations, as well as autonomy over long time periods. In-situ data collected can be combined with remote sensing and/or models to detect, understand and/or forecast the most crucial coastal processes over extensive areas within the various marine environments. In Europe, significant heterogeneity exists when it relates to marine observing systems, would it be technological design, measured parameters, practices for maintenance and quality control, as well as quality standards for sensors and data exchange. This can partly be explained by the fact that, most "coastal observatories" have been designed following national/regional research priorities and mainly undertaken through a series of short-term research projects. A main challenge for the European marine research community is therefore to harmonise the technologies, increase the consistency and the sustainability of these infrastructures by sharing know-how, establishing best practices and s agreeing on a consensual roadmap for the future of coastal observatories within a shared pan-European framework. These considerations led about thirty institutions in Europe to organise their coastal observation systems in a pan European Research Infrastructure: the JERICO-RI (www.jerico-ri.eu), and to build up this integrated infrastructure following a long-term approach This article and the following in this special issue of Journal of Marine Systems are focusing on some results of the FP7 JERICO project (2011-2015), which is briefly presented in the next section. Section 3 introduces the articles of this special issue, presenting the most relevant results supported by the use and the further development of the JERICO-RI. Some general conclusions are drawn in Section 4.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
