CMCC

The general objective of “TESSA” project (industrial research project funded under the PON “Ricerca & Competitività 2007-2013” program of Ministero Italiano dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca) is to improve and consolidate the products and the operational oceanography service in Southern Italy and to integrate this service with technological platforms of dissemination of information for the ‘Situational Sea Awareness’.
Sea Situational Awareness (SSA) is strategically important for management and safety purposes of Mediterranean Sea and its coastal areas. The lack of adequate dissemination of marine environmental data and consequent poor knowledge available for operations at sea reduce the response capacity, leading to loss of lives and potential socio-economic damages. In the framework of the project the partners have developed new SSA services.
TESSA is a joint effort of the research groups of operational oceanography, scientific computing and software engineering, and aims to strengthen and consolidate the operational oceanography service in Southern Italy and to integrate it with available technological platforms in order to disseminate information for the SSA.
TESSA has been developed both products and services connected to the operational oceanography and to technological platforms for data dissemination and decisions support for the SSA.

The activities carried out follow:
– Operational modelling with high resolution. Improvement of geo-space-temporal data for the Southern Italy Seas
– Operational oceanography centers – Improvement of geo-space-temporal data for the Southern Italy Seas
– Data Repositories – Technological platforms of “Situational Sea Awareness” – SSA
– Intelligent Decisions Support Systems for complex dynamical environments. Technological platforms of “Situational Sea Awareness” – SSA
– Tests and demonstration of services and products – technological platforms of “Situational Sea Awareness” – SSA
The main scientific results are published in Special Issue collection: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/special_issue654.html.

The project aims at designing and implementing an “IONian Integrated marine Observatory” (IONIO) that will produce environmental information about the Southern Adriatic and Northern Ionian (SANI) Programme Area to support safer maritime traffic and the reduction of pollution hazard.
A monitoring and forecasting system for the SANI area which will allow the dissemination of high resolution environmental information to mariners in the area. Such information will be at the basis of navigator decisions on safer routes, better management of emergencies for lifesavers and for responders to pollution events. The wind, wave and current observations and forecast complement the national observing networks adding the cross-area monitoring capabilities of the IONIO components.
A database containing the observational and modelling data from 2008 (for model only) to the end of the project. Such data base will give the necessary environmental information for the sustainable development of transport systems in the Programme Area, following the directions of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, recently approved.
A Web Portal for the cataloguing, discovery and visualization of the database, both in real time and delayed mode. This will form the basis of the IONIO service for the rapid dissemination of relevant environmental information to regional stakeholders for increasing the area’s accessibility and attractiveness.
A Decision Support System for Search And Rescue which computes the trajectory of bodies at the surface and subsurface to help reduce the loss of lifes due to ship accidents.
A Decision Support System for Ship Routing and Safety which will include real time wind, wave and current data provided by the IONIO modelling system to promote safe navigation.
A Decision Support System for Pollution Harzard Mapping which contains information about the ship tracks crossing the area and the potential dispersal of pollutants from along track operational releases evaluated using the analyses from the open ocean models of the SANI area and the Gulf of Taranto.

The general objective of “START” project is to improve and consolidate the awareness and the knowledge of Apulian coastal environment integrating the observing systems with the operational and forecasting numerical modelling. The services will be integrated with technological platforms of dissemination of information for the ‘Coastal Situational Awareness’.

The activities will develop services providing:
– early warning and rapid mapping of extreme events (e.g. storm surge) in Apulia coastal areas
– coastal erosion and flooding indicators
– support an integrated management of harbor areas
Two decision support systems will be produced, one for coastal areas (DSS-coasts) and another for the main regional ports (DSS-ports).

The products of the DSS-ports are:
– Meteo-ocean forecasting;
– Assessment of erosion phenomena;
– Waves and wind regimes;
– Probability of extreme events;
– Dynamics of sediment transport;
– Estimation of future scenarios of coastline;
– Production of vulnerability maps related to inundation and erosion risks;
– Proposition of reference scenario to be adopted for coastal planning in relationship with Climate Change;
– Offer of criteria of ICZM.

The products of the DSS-ports are:
– meteo-ocean forecasting;
– assessment of water exchange and sediment accumulation;
– services for navigation safety;
– early warning system for extreme events;
– estimation of downtimes intervals;
– evaluation of level of flooding and inundation of pears;
– assessment of the level of vulnerability of the ports to the risk of sediment accumulation;
– support to the planning of ports infrastructure.

MEDESS-4MS was dedicated to the maritime risks prevention and strengthening of maritime safety related to oil spill pollution in the Mediterranean. MEDESS-4MS delivered an integrated operational multi model oil spill prediction service in the Mediterranean, connected to existing monitoring platforms (CSN, AIS), using the well established oil spill modeling systems, the data from the Marine Core Services and the national ocean forecasting systems.
MEDESS-4MS set up an integrated real time operational oil spill forecasting service for the Mediterranean for national response agencies, REMPEC and EMSA.
The multi-model oil spill forecasting system is composed of environmental information from the GMES Marine Service and the national ocean forecasting systems interfaced with oil slick data from existing monitoring platforms from EMSA CSN, as well with AIS data. It used the real time information about position of the oil slick, interface it with oil spill models capable to forecast the movement of the pollution providing tailored products to oil spill crisis management users, contributing substantially to maritime risks prevention and maritime safety.

The activities carried out follow:
– To implement an integrated real time multi-model oil spill forecasting system
– To implement an interconnected network of data repositories that will archive and provide in operational way access to all available environmental and oil spill data;
– To test the service functionalities with key end-users: REMPEC, EMSA, and national agencies responsible for combating oil spills
– To develop the integrated system with a unique access web portal with different services and user profiles, multi-model data access and interactive capabilities.

The main scientific results are published in the Special Issue of Deep-Sea Res. II (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.08.003.

The expected results of ARGES comply with the strategic character of the project and with the results indicated in the call, and regard:
· The application of the Directive 2010/65/EC coherently with the strategies of the national and regional development programmes in the fields of transport and ICT;
· An enhancement of the cooperation among all the Port Authorities involved, for the management of the trades and of the passengers and freight flows, and among them and the partner Institutions (BAT province and Region Epirus) as regards the control and the supply of information regarding the traffic peaks, the free parking areas for haulers and the local touristic activities;
· Obtain and manage a great amount of useful information for the planning of the territorial development in the fields of transport and tourism;
· Guarantee the sustainability of the management and of the real time interchange of the data both on a territorial and on a transnational level, also after the completion of the project;
· Guarantee a continuous cooperation, even after the end of the project, among the involved partners;
· Guarantee the possibility of a direct use by the national authorities of the unique interface system created and the connection with the port hub systems;
· The users of the created services will be, apart from the travelers, institutions at a national and local level as Customs, Police, Fire Brigade, tourism authorities, provinces and regions as well as all the port operators (maritime agencies and shipowners);
· Supply various type of services to the population that range from weather forecasts, to security, to the traffic management, to the monitoring of the unexpected events, to tourism;
· Use and disseminate scientific innovation and research that are guaranteed by the partners scientific institutions through the support to decisions and to planning.
The main activities are:
· Implementation of directive 2010/65/EC – Pilot model of a unique national maritime single windows NMSW/PMIS for the interface with the national (Greek and Italian) Coast Guard;
· Development and enhancement of the PCS and implementation of the services for passengers – Enhancement of the GAIA PCS in the Port of Bari and creation of PCSs and TAPINs in the ports of Igoumenitsa, Corfù and Patras;
· Monitoring of the road networks connected with the ports – Creation of a system aiming to evaluate the conditions of the traffic for the ports partners. There will be carried out a field-testing of the system monitoring the movement of the vehicles;
· Personalized marine weather forecasts for the ports – Creation of a system that will make available – to the Coast Guard and to the Port Authorities of Bari, Igoumenitsa, Corfù, and Patras – the marine weather forecasts to support the merchant and passenger traffic.