M. Gillooly

The European Deep Sea Observatories Network of Excellence ESONET

ESONET is an European Network of Excellence (NoE) associating 50 partners (research centres, universities, industrials and SMEs) from 14 countries: France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria and Turkey. More than 300 scientists and engineers will participate to its activities. The goal of the ESONET NOE is the lasting integration of European research on deep sea multidisciplinary observatories. Over the initial 4 years, the approach will be to merge the programmes of members Organisations through research activities addressing the scientific objectives and networking activities specially designed for integration and spreading excellence. ESONET NoE will create an organisation capable of implementing, operating and maintaining a network of multidisciplinary ocean observatories in deep waters around Europe. The NoE will structure the resources of the participating institutes to create the necessary critical mass, remove barriers and through a joint programme of activities arrive at durable solutions for this future organisation.

From ESONET multidisciplinary scientific community to EMSO novel European research infrastructure for ocean observation

Environmental and climate changes are crucial challenges for sustainable living because of their significant impact on the Earth system and the important consequences for natural resources. Oceans have a primary role in these changes as they regulate heat flux, greenhouse gases and climate whilst harboring many different life forms and resources. Understanding processes in the marine environment is of paramount importance for any prediction of short-, intermediate- and long-term global change.

The EMSO-ERIC Pan-European Consortium: data benefits and lessons learned as the legal entity forms

The European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) provides power, communications, sensors, and data infrastructure for continuous, high-resolution, (near-)real-time, interactive ocean observations across a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary range of research areas including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and computer science, from polar to subtropical environments, through the water column down to the abyss. Eleven deep-sea and four shallow nodes span from the Arctic through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea. Coordination among the consortium nodes is being strengthened through the EMSOdev project (H2020), which will produce the EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM). Early installations are now being upgraded, for example, at the Ligurian, Ionian, Azores, and Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) nodes. Significant findings have been flowing in over the years; for example, high-frequency surface and subsurface water-column measurements of the PAP node show an increase in seawater pCO2 (from 339 μatm in 2003 to 353 μatm in 2011) with little variability in the mean air-sea CO2 flux. In the Central Eastern Atlantic, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands open-ocean canary node (aka ESTOC station) has a long-standing time series on water column physical, biogeochemical, and acidification processes that have contributed to the assessment efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). EMSO not only brings together countries and disciplines but also allows the pooling of resources and coordination to assemble harmonized data into a comprehensive regional ocean picture, which will then be made available to researchers and stakeholders worldwide on an open and interoperable access basis.

ESONET: a network to integrate European research on sea

ESONET is an European network of excellence (NoE) associating 50 partners (research centres, universities, industrials and SMEs) from 14 countries: France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria and Turkey. More than 300 scientists and engineers will participate to its activities. The goal of the ESONET NOE is the lasting integration of European research on deep sea multidisciplinary observatories. Over the initial 4 years, the approach will be to merge the programmes of members organisations through research activities addressing the scientific objectives and networking activities specially designed for integration and spreading excellence.

The European Seafloor Observatory Network Implementation Model: Towards a model for European Observatory Implementation

ESONIM seeks to facilitate the establishment of a European Seafloor Observatory Network (ESONET) by providing EU Member State Governments with the technical, legal and financial models and arguments to establish one or more pilot cabled seafloor observatories. The scientific case for establishing seafloor observatories in European waters has been made by the ESONET project. Therefore, ESONIM focuses on detailing the technical specification of a model observatory (the proposed CeltNet site west of Ireland), the financial model required to fund the initial capital purchase of the observatory elements and the ongoing operating expenditure on a year to year basis and legal implications and obligations associated with developing a seafloor observatory. ESONIM has developed a financial model of capital and current expenditure and revenue for an observatory so that different funding scenarios can be considered (e.g. full state funding, partial state funding with industry or EU project support). This model is presented as a software-based tool to examine different funding scenarios for ocean observatories. The outputs of ESONIM will feed into the recently funded ESONET Network of Excellence Implementation work package. It is anticipated that ESONIM will provide a comprehensive guide on how to implement observatories in European waters and further afield.

The European Seafloor Observatory Network Implementation Model: Towards a Model for European Observatory Implementation

ESONIM seeks to facilitate the establishment of a European Seafloor Observatory Network (ESONET) by providing EU member state governments with the technical, legal and financial models and arguments to establish one or establishing seafloor observatories in European waters has been made by the ESONET project. Therefore, ESONIM focuses on detailing the technical specification of a model observatory (the proposed CeltNet site west of Ireland), the financial model required to fund the initial capital purchase of the observatory elements and the ongoing operating expenditure on a year to year basis and legal implications and obligations associated with developing a seafloor observatory. ESONIM has developed a financial model of capital and current expenditure and revenue for an observatory so that different funding scenarios can be considered (eg. Full state funding, partial state funding with industry or EU project support). This model is presented as a software-based tool to examine different funding scenarios for ocean observatories. The outputs of ESONIM will feed into the recently funded ESONET network of excellence implementation work package. It is anticipated that ESONIM will provide a comprehensive guide on how to implement observatories in European waters and further afield.