The forecast system is developed and maintained by the Dynamics of Ecosystems and Computational Oceanography (ECHO) research group of the Oceanography department at OGS.
The activity of ECHO group is focused to numerical analysis, synthesis, integration and modeling of the state and dynamics of estuarine, coastal and marine systems, with reference to issues of biogeochemistry and marine ecology, of anthropic impact and of climate change on marine systems, ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, sustainable development and the integrated coastal zone management, operational oceanography and assimilation of data, analysis of integrated eco-socio-economic systems. The activity includes the development, analysis and use of methods of numerical analysis, physical models, ecological models and ecological models coupled to transport models of varying complexity. This activity also covers the development and application of methods based on high-performance supercomputers.
MedEAF website is developed within the framework of the EU Copernicus programme.
Copernicus is an European system for monitoring the Earth (coordinated and managed by the European Commission).
It provides data and services (processed data) to users (mainly policymakers and public authorities who need the information to develop environmental legislation and policies for environment protection, management of urban areas, regional and local planning, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, health, transport, climate change, sustainable development, civil protection and tourism).
The services address six thematic areas: land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency management and security.
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) is managed by MERCATOR OCEAN International (an European Consortium) and provides ocean monitoring, analysis and forecasts for the global and European seas. The service consists of observations (from satellite and in-situ) and modeling products for 7 regional systems. One of the 7 regional systems is coordinated by the Mediterranean Sea Monitoring and Forecasting Center (MED-MFC) which is managed by a consortium composed by CMCC (Centro euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici), HCMR (Hellenic Center of Marine Research) and OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale).
The MED-MFC provides short-term forecasts (10 days) of the state of the sea for the physical components (temperature, salinity, currents, waves, etc. ) and biogeochemical/ecological ones. MED-MFC also provides analyses of the state of the sea for at least the last two decades, able to describe the climatology of the physical and biogeochemistry characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea and to capture the trends of change.
For more information, please visit Copernicus and OGS website.
The activity of the ECHO group in the frame of CMEMS is briefly shown in two short videos (in Italian only):