EDITO-Model Lab will prepare the next generation of ocean models, complementary to Copernicus Marine Service to be integrated into the EU public infrastructure of the European Digital Twin Ocean (EDITO) that will ensure access to required input and validation data (from EMODnet, EuroGOOS, ECMWF, Copernicus Services and Sentinels satellite observations) and to high-performance and distributed computing facilities (from EuroHPC for HPC and other cloud computing resources) and that will be consolidated under developments of Destination Earth (DestinE). The objective is to make ocean knowledge available to citizens, entrepreneurs, policymakers, decision-makers and scientific experts alike, thus enabling them to become partners in knowledge generation, explore desirable futures and develop ocean management scenarios (and assemble their own twins), with the overarching goal of ensuring a safe, healthy and productive ocean. As an interactive and user driven initiative, EDITO-Model Lab will deliver a Virtual Ocean Model Lab (VOML) including (1) a core model suite including global high-resolution models and coastal configurations, (2) downstream user toolkits and (3) a developer’s toolkit for a sustainable ocean. The VOML will be an interactive and co-development environment to operate models. EDITO core model suite will be based on modelling and simulation software, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and specialised tools to form a new service capacity for accessing, manipulating, analysing and understanding marine information. Intermediate and downstream stakeholders will find digital tools, data and information for ‘focus applications’ (FA) that refer to the Mission Ocean Lighthouses (MOLs) and the sustainable Blue economy, including ‘what-if scenarios’ to find solutions to natural and man-induced hazards. EDITO-Model Lab will be delivered in 36 months by a consortium of 14 authoritative partners, covering ocean knowledge, modelling and technological expertise.

Exerted pressures on the ocean and more particularly on the coastal and shelf seas increasingly disturb increasingly disturb coastal regions and ecosystems, and will strongly impact our future. To improve the understanding of underlying processes, the series of EU-funded JERICO (Joint European Research Infrastructure of Coastal Observatories) projects have consisted, since 2007, in continuously improving observations in European coastal marine areas where most of the world population lives, with the objective to build a pan-European Research Infrastructure (RI) providing high-quality marine data, expertise, services, facilities and observation systems. The data produced in this long-term framework are multidisciplinary, standardized, quality-controlled, sustained, interoperable, and free for access and use. However, to better serve the scientific community and address societal and policy needs, JERICO has to progress towards a structured operational European RI supported by the EU Member States (and associated members) and the EC, and endorsed as a high-value RI at EU level as part of the ESFRI roadmap. JERICO-DS will thus analyze the needs and propose a design for a state-of-the-art, fit-for-purpose, visionary and sustainable observational European RI providing expertise and high-quality data on European coastal and shelf seas, supporting world-class research, high-impact innovation, and visibility of European excellence worldwide. JERICO-DS will conceptually design the entire picture of the JERICO RI, covering both hardware and software components, and including cutting edge technologies from the sensor level to the information and service distribution to users, hence contributing to the Smart Ocean. JERICO-DS will build on nations’ will and involvement to co-construct the JERICO RI, from the scientific and technical design to the business plan and governance strategy, supporting future engagement during the ESFRI process.

iMagine provides a portfolio of free at the point of use image datasets, high-performance image analysis tools empowered with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Best Practice documents for scientific image analysis. These services and materials enable better and more efficient processing and analysis of imaging data in marine and freshwater research, accelerating our scientific insights about processes and measures relevant for healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters. By building on the computing platform of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) the project delivers a generic framework for AI model development, training, and deployment, which can be adopted by researchers for refining their AI-based applications for water pollution mitigation, biodiversity and ecosystem studies, climate change analysis and beach monitoring, but also for developing and optimising other AI-based applications in this field. The iMagine compute layer consists of providers from the pan-European EGI federation infrastructure, collectively offering over 132,000 GPU-hours, 6,000,000 CPU-hours and 1500 TB-month for image hosting and processing. The iMagine AI framework offers neural networks, parallel post-processing of very large data, and analysis of massive online data streams in distributed environments. 13 RIs will share over 9 million images and 8 AI-powered applications through the framework. Having representatives so many RIs and IT experts, developing a portfolio of eye-catching image processing services together will also give rise to Best Practices. The synergies between aquatic use cases will lead to common solutions in data management, quality control, performance, integration, provenance, and FAIRness, contributing to harmonisation across RIs and providing input for the iMagine Best Practice guidelines. The project results will be integrated into and will bring important contributions from RIs and e-infrastructures to EOSC and AI4EU.

The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform project is promoting the development of a common global framework for marine data management by developing interoperability between existing regional e-infrastructures. Through a series of international workshops attracting relevant domain experts a number of prototype interoperability solutions will be developed which will be implemented by the regional data infrastructures to provide users with open access to good quality multidisciplinary data and associated services. Improved access to a range of marine data will facilitate re-use of the data and support researchers in addressing grand challenges such as climate change and conservation of marine resources.

The main ambition of FOCCUS is to improve and advance the coastal dimension of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) by enhancing existing capability, developing innovative coastal products. Designing and demonstrating the integration of Copernicus and Member State coastal services will allow a seamless and fit-for-use monitoring and forecasting of the ocean from global to regional and coastal scales. Co-production of coastal services will reinforce the quality, efficiency and exploitation of Copernicus research and specific applications will demonstrate FOCCUS’s progress beyond the state of the art for challenges such as the protection of the coastal zone, the development of a sustainable blue economy, and the building of coastal zone resilience to climate change, anthropogenic pressures and natural hazards. At the heart of the proposed methodology is the use of new space (such as Sentinels) and in-situ coastal observations, innovations in data fusion, data processing and visualisation together with seamless numerical coastal prediction (including interfaces for downscaling from CMEMS) from the regional to the near-shore, also connecting to the estuarine scale. Novel approaches will be used to ensure CMEMS evolves at the forefront of modern research and technology, in-line with the innovation and digitalisation required for the European digital ocean and water knowledge system. FOCCUS will ensure credible pathways for effective uptake and exploitation of key outcomes and research results by the CMEMS and the wider user community, thereby fostering the acceptance and efficient application of novel information products by society. This will include demonstrations of the technical readiness of the proposed evolutions and active dialogue with European and international initiatives to ensure the global community is aware of FOCCUS, and that results contribute to wider efforts.