INTERACT: INTERACT aims at new Earth Observation (EO) variables and at operational and climate applications, based on the capability capitalization of three teams (CSIC, UPC and USAL) with long joint research trajectory on satellite remote sensing (RS). The cornerstones of INTERACT are i) the definition of new EO concepts based on the synergy of missions, variables and applications, creating new, added-value assets; ii) the capitalization of the RS expertise of the teams; and iii) the integration of such assets in the Barcelona Expert Center (BEC) production and distribution system to reach the community at large. In an age of intense and rapid changes in the economy and the environment, INTERACT aim is beyond established, monolithic paradigms of single missions, single variables, to better respond to the societal needs. Synergy at all levels (instrumental, variable, application) is the leitmotiv of INTERACT. Thanks to this synergistic approach, INTERACT gathers together the expertise on data processing and aims at a new generation of EO products, with a special focus on long-term series of enhanced spatio-temporal resolution variables: sea surface salinity on semi-enclosed seas and polar regions, sea ice parameters, wind forcing, coastal and extreme ocean winds, chlorophyll concentration, water quality, vegetation optical depth, plant water content, vegetation biomass, etc. New and enhanced information content is generated to address crucial scientific questions: Which changes are taking place on the ocean surface due to climate change? How are fast mesoscale convective systems affecting the atmospheric flow? Can we forecast the next crop yield with good accuracy? Which is the impact of the changes in land runoff? Are climate patterns modifying soil moisture, affecting vegetation hydric stress and favoring risks like wildfires, floods and disease spread? The vertex of this synergistic, integrative effort of INTERACT is the assembling of some major pieces of the Earth system (interactions between ocean, atmosphere and land), aiming at variables never previously described by RS means. -----------------------------------------------------

Extreme wind events occupy an increasing place in the mass media as they have direct societal and economic implications (human loss, material destructions, etc.), and are expected to become more destructive in the future as a consequence of global warming. Besides global warming, societies and economies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to extremes. The primary objective of the project is to provide guidance and innovative methodologies to maximize the synergetic use of available Earth Observation data (satellite, in situ) to improve understanding about the multi-scale dynamical characteristics of extreme air-sea interaction events. We further postulate that systematic collocations between medium (e.g. ASCAT) and low resolution (SMOS, SMAP, AMRS-2, CYGNSS) satellite observations with high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and in situ reference estimates from the Step Frequency Microwave radiometer (SFMR) and dropsondes acquired by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) P-3 hurricane “hunter” flights will serve to compare and homogenize all these different measurements. In turn, these homogenized multi-modal measurements, with more complete global space-time sampling of surface winds, will be integrated into a single, new wind product. The main ambition will then be to provide quantifiable measures of the accuracy of the most severe storm dynamics from these products, and to derive extreme wind climate and trend analysis. These new products will be complemented by the collection of other parameters (waves, pycnocline uplift, sea surface temperature, salinity, and height, etc.) to help describe extreme ocean-atmosphere interactions and consolidate a first storm-atlas.

The resolution of regional numerical weather prediction (NWP) models has continuously been increased over the past decades, in part, thanks to the improved computational capabilities. At such small scales, the fast weather evolution is driven by wind rather than by temperature and pressure. Over the ocean, where global NWP models are not able to resolve wind scales below 150 km, regional models provide wind dynamics and variance equivalent to 25 km or lower. However, although this variance is realistic, it often results in spurious circulation (e.g., moist convection systems), thus misleading weather forecasts and interpretation. An accurate and consistent initialization of the evolution of the 3-dimensional (3-D) wind structure is therefore essential in regional weather analysis. The research fellow would focus on a comprehensive characterization of the spatial scales and measurement errors for the different operational space-borne wind products currently used and/or planned to be used in regional models. In addition, the fellow would thoroughly investigate and improve the 4-D (including time) consistency between the different horizontal and/or vertical satellite wind products under study. Such products include OSI SAF scatterometer-derived sea-surface wind fields, NWC SAF Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs), the upcoming ADM-Aeolus and/or IASI wind profiles. Densely sampled aircraft wind profiles (Mode-S) will be used to verify and characterize the satellite products. To this end, the experience of the NWC, OSI, and NWP SAFs will be exploited. Moreover, data assimilation experiments of the consistent datasets into the Harmonie-AROME regional model will be carried out in two different regions, i.e., the Netherlands and the Iberian Peninsula regional configurations.

The main objective of the project is to develop and validate innovative methods allowing the synergistic capacity offered by satellite data, in-situ measurements and numerical models for retrieving regional upper layer ocean circulation products to respond to specific needs of users engaged in the transition towards a clean, safe, sustainable and productive ocean. Our the common driver is to enhance the understanding, the monitoring and the phasing forecast of upper ocean currents, with a particular focus on the most intense ocean small scale structures. The users are in the center of the proposal as they will be deeply involved in all the phases of the project thanks to the strong links and knowledge developed by the project partners. In particular, ICM will focus on the development of a new high-resolution & high-frequency ocean forcing product, an intermediate product which will be used to improve the quality of final products delivered to the users, such as, 3D ocean currents, the reconstruction of high-frequency surface currents, upwelling indexes, and the calibration of the wind-wave bia

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be considered a success story from many points of view. On the technological side, the instrument has proved to be very stable and robust, providing high-quality measurements, despite the processing complexity. On the scientific side, the SMOS data have exceeded all expectations. In particular, maps of the main mission variables (soil moisture and sea surface salinity) are currently served with higher accuracy and resolution than foreseen. Moreover, new emerging applications of high societal impact are currently being derived and exploited from SMOS data. By understanding the value and uniqueness of the L-band radiometry information content, ESA and NASA have recently launched several initiatives on the continuity of passive low-frequency microwave missions. While the possibility of a SMOS follow-on is being openly discussed, a gap-filler, i.e., the Chinese Ocean Salinity mission, has already been approved to be launched around 2019. One of the most important emerging applications of L-band radiometers comes from their ability to provide sea ice thickness estimates below 0.7 meters, i.e., thin ice. Although thin ice was considered exceptional (and seasonal) a few decades ago, nowadays the presence of thin ice can represent up to 80% of the Arctic sea ice. Moreover, traditional cryosphere satellite radar missions are unable to provide ice thickness estimates below 1 meter. The precise knowledge of sea ice is crucial to improve climate model forecasts and to assess the impact of the current Arctic sea ice melting trend on Europe's climate. It is thus strategic for Europe and Spain to have continuous, good quality monitoring of the Arctic thin ice, which can only be provided by L-band radiometers like SMOS and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. Other emerging applications include the estimation of extreme winds, the detection and monitoring of serious threats for agriculture and forestry resources, and new research on the impact of the slow dynamics of ocean salinity on Earth climate. In the L-BAND project, we will further exploit the information content of L-band radiometers in order to ensure the successful exploitation of future missions. In particular, we will develop new products for applications of high economic and societal impact, and that will demonstrate the need for L-band continuity Spain is strategically very well positioned for a SMOS follow-on mission, since both the industry and the academia had a main role in the inception, design, construction, and operations of SMOS. With the L-BAND project, we aim at consolidating the leading role of Spain in the development and operations of any future mission exploiting L-band capabilities.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be considered a success story from many points of view. On the technological side, the instrument has proved to be very stable and robust, providing high-quality measurements, despite the processing complexity. On the scientific side, the SMOS data have exceeded all expectations. In particular, maps of the main mission variables (soil moisture and sea surface salinity) are currently served with higher accuracy and resolution than foreseen. Moreover, new emerging applications of high societal impact are currently being derived and exploited from SMOS data. In L-BAND, continuous, a good quality monitoring of the Arctic thin ice, which can only be provided by L-band radiometers like SMOS and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, is ensured. Other emerging applications include the estimation of extreme winds, the detection and monitoring of serious threats for agriculture and forestry resources, and new research on the impact of the slow dynamics of ocean salinity on Earth climate. Moreover, the information content of L-band radiometers is being further exploited to ensure the successful exploitation of future missions. This CSIC-funded extension of the L-BAND project (L-BAND-EXT) aims at ensuring the R&D activities within L-BAND while awaiting for the approval of the follow-on project proposal submitted to the Spanish R&D National Plan call \"Retos Investigación\".

In the context of a previous study, the Spatial Response Function (SRF) size and orientation of the QuikSCAT full resolution (FR) backscatter measurements have been characterized in order to assess the Land Contribution Ratio (LCR). The LCR information can be used for correcting or filtering out the backscatter measurements near the coast with the final aim of improving the sampling and the quality of coastal winds derived from QuikSCAT and other pencil-beam scatterometers. The study concludes that improved coastal winds are only possible when the backscatter noise is thoroughly characterized, an information which is unfortunately unavailable in the QuikSCAT FR files. As such, the main goals of this follow-up study are: a) To characterize the noise in the QuikSCAT backscatter measurements (slices) according to their distance to the egg (footprint) centroid; b) To validate a backscatter measurements correction/filtering scheme which accounts for slice-dependent noise in specific coastal test areas which are not affected by either orography or human activities; c) To assess a weighted regression scheme in order to take into account backscatter measurement noise; d) To set-up an operational processor for coastal wind field retrieval.

Recent developments on ASCAT coastal wind processing show that by thoroughly characterizing the size and orientation of the spatial response function (SRF) for each beam, a better coastal sampling and wind quality product can be derived. The wind processing also benefits from earlier work on the so-called land contribution ratio (LCR), which aims at identifying and removing from the wind retrieval process those backscatter measurements contaminated by land signal. In this work, we aim at fully characterizing the QuikSCAT SRFs before revisiting the LCR method in order to set the grounds for the development of an OSI SAF coastal wind product for rotating pencil-beam scatterometers.

The transition to a low carbon economy needs to achieve multiple aims: competitiveness, protection of the environment, creation of quality jobs, and social welfare. Thus policy-makers and other key stakeholders require tools that need to focus beyond the energy sector by including these other domains of economy, society and the environment. Currently, most available tools lack integration of these important areas despite being tightly connected to the energy sector. Moreover, current energy modelling tools often lack documentation, transparency and have been developed for a specialized insider audience, which makes validation and comparison of results as well as independent review impossible. Our project aims to solve the current needs of integration and transparency by developing a leading-edge policy modelling tool based on WoLiM, TIMES and LEAP models and incorporating Input-Output Analysis, that allows for accounting of environmental, social and economic impacts. The modular design of the tool will take into account the necessary flexibility to deal with different levels and interests of stakeholders at great sectorial and spatial detail. Finally, transparency will be achieved through an open access freeware distribution of the model based on the open access programming language (Python), providing a detailed user manual, addressed to a wider non-specialist audience, and including free internet courses and learning materials.

Uno de los objetivos del proyecto Corrientes Oceánicas y Seguridad en el Medio Marino (COSMO) es la creación de una base de datos de trayectorias de dispositivos flotantes que compile, homogenice, valide, distribuya y compare diferentes conjuntos de observaciones que actualmente se encuentran dispersas entre diferentes entidades públicas. Los datos obtenidos se utilizarán para validar los sistemas de predicciones de trayectorias utilizadas en las operaciones de Búsqueda y Rescate llevadas a cabo por Salvamento Marítimo y ayudar en las tareas de los cuerpos de seguridad.

Las medidas por satélite de la Temperatura Superficial del Mar (SST) proporcionadas por los radiómetros de infrarrojo han revelado la existencia de distintos regímenes de turbulencia de submesoscala. Las características de los cuales están directamente relacionadas con las propiedades de la capa de mezcla del océano lo que plantea si es posible extraer esta información a partir de las características de la turbulencia. Por otro lado, la existencia de largas series temporales ( > 30 años) de medidas globales de SST empuja a explorar si se pueden detectar cambios en la turbulencia de submesoscala en respuesta al calentamiento global. La dificultad principal consiste en definir descriptores capaces de identificar unívocamente los diversos regímenes. Enfoques estándar utilizados en los estudios de turbulencia geofísica, como el análisis espectral, son poco adecuados para este fin, lo que hace necesario encontrar alternativas. Resultados preliminares han demostrado que la intermitencia varía de un régimen a otro, lo que sugiere que podría ser utilizada para distinguir las propiedades de la parte superior del océano. En este proyecto proponemos utilizar el análisis de singularidades para este fin en lugar de las funciones de estructura ya que está mejor adaptado a las observaciones de SST (p.e. presencia de nubes). Además, existe un sólido marco teórico que lo conecta con el punto de vista más clásico basado en funciones de estructura. En consecuencia , en este proyecto, proponemos analizar la intermitencia de la turbulencia de submesoscala del océano para caracterizar las propiedades de las capas superiores del océano y evaluar la posibilidad de utilizarla para monitorizar la evolución del océano con el Cambio Climático. Además, las propiedades de invariancia de escala de nuestro enfoque permiten investigar la intermitencia usando campos de SST de baja resolución lo que explotaremos para comparar simulaciones climáticas existentes con las observaciones.

CHEFS A particularly pressing requirement in the Ocean Surface Vector Wind community is to obtain reliable extreme winds in hurricanes (> 30 m/s) from wind scatterometers, since extreme weather classification (hurricane categories) , surge and wave forecasts for societal warning are a high priority in nowcasting and in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Moreover, global information on the motion near the ocean surface is generally lacking, limiting the physical modelling capabilities of the forcing of the world’s water surfaces by the atmosphere. This also limits our knowledge of the exchange of momentum across the water-air interface, affecting meteorological and ocean applications, which exchanges are particularly violent in extreme conditions. The scatterometer SCA onboard Metop Second Generation (Metop-SG) will have a cross-polarization (VH) C-band channel to obtain improved extreme wind observations in addition to the co-polarization channels (VV and HH). The EUMETSAT CHEFS project is concerned with developing a consolidated wind reference from 0 m/s up to 60 m/s. Such wind reference may be used to calibrate retrievals of extreme wind speeds by both passive and active satellite sensors using empirical Geophysical Model Functions (GMFs) , but also to tune NWP models to provide a more adequate representation of hurricanes. The CHEFS project objective is to apply such wind reference to C-band VV, HH and VH polarization GMFs, as these are used for ASCAT onboard Metop and for SCA onboard Metop-SG. For such purpose, NOAA hurricane hunter dropsonde and microwave (such as the Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer or SFMR) wind data, NWP output, moored buoy winds, and C-band scatterometer and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data will be used in this study.

The Institute of Marine Science (ICM), through its Department of Physical and Technological Oceanography, is from 2005 an Expert Support Laboratory for the design and further development of the Level 2 Ocean Salinity processor of the European Space Agency SMOS satellite mission.

The ESL tasks consist in designing the algorithms to compute sea surface salinity from SMOS radiometric measurements. And, since the satellite was launched and started delivering scientific data in early 2010, to analyse the quality of the retrieved salinity and propose improvements in the data processing chain in order to achieve the mission goal in terms of accuracy.

Our ESL activities have been funded through a series of successive subcontracts with the company (first ACRI-st, then ARGANS) contracted by ESA to implement the L2OS processor.

The study seeks to establish the physical relation between GNSS-R signals and ocean wind and roughness properties using state-of-the-art modelling of the ocean roughness, ocean dielectric properties and NSS-R scattering. Based on this physical understanding, the study defines the Level 2 scatterometric products that can be reliably extracted from GNSS-R signals and develops the physically based Geophysical Model Functions and error models. The physical framework also serves to characterise aspects of the TDS-1 GNSS-R signals that are specific to the TDS-1 mission and determines how these specificities impact the “ideal” GMFs derived from the simulator framework. This is subsequently used to consolidate the Level 1-to-Level 2 inversion algorithms for TDS-1, which are validated using a larger TDS-1 matchup dataset with a wider range of independent measurements. Finally, the study carries out preliminary impact analyses of the TDS-1 data and defines suitable Observation System Simulation Experiment (OSSEs) to further investigate the impact of GNSS-R wind and roughness measurements in possible future activities. The project features a logical flow starting from the physical knowledge of the sea surface drivers of GNSS-R signals acquired with the GNSS-R simulator framework. As such, the study represents an essential complement to empirical analyses of GNSS-R and TDS-1 data undertaken elsewhere, e.g. Foti et al., (2015a, 2015b), the parallel “TDS-1 Exploitation Phase” ESA study and within the CYGNSS team (e.g. Jelenak et al., 2015). The physical framework will provide the means to unravel and separate different geophysical effects, such as the relative importance of wind and ocean waves on GNSS-R signals and the nature of their response to direction. Similarly, the physical framework provides a new tool to discriminate instrument, orbit, geometrical and geophysical effects that are difficult to untangle from empirical analyses alone. Another, more implicit, objective of this study is to stimulate investigation and exploitation of the TDS-1 GNSS-R data by a wider scientific community. Although the TDS-1 data has been publicly available since arch 2015, the uptake outside NOC and SSTL has been limited. Engaging a wider scientific community in this endeavour would help to more rapidly identify issues with the data, and extend the range of solutions and approaches to understand and exploit the information content of GNSS-R signals.

Recent developments on the Ku-band scatterometer wind geophysical model function (GMF) include a sea surface temperature (SST) dependent term. It has been found that the SST effects on the radar backscatter are wind speed dependent and more pronounced in vertical polarization (VV) than in horizontal polarisation (HH) and at higher incidence angles, and are only relevant at radar wavelenghts smaller tan C-band. The new Ku-band GMF, NSCAT-5, is based on a physical model and Rapidscat radar backscatter measurements, which are only available at two incidence angles, i.e., 49⁰ and 56⁰, for HH and VV beams, respectively. The aim of this study is to verify the NSCAT-5 GMF at other incidence angles, using data from the recently-launched Indian SCATSat-1, which operates at 42.6⁰ (HH) and 49.3⁰ (VV) incidence angle. This is an extension of the already approved short-term AS CDOP-2 study, reference OSI_AVS_17_01. In fact, these two projects were initially planned as a single project, but divided in two to allow the use of the CDOP-2 remaining budget. The extended project objectives well fit within the CDOP-3 framework and associated work packages.

The ICE project aims to understand the processes involved in the rapid retreat and collapse of the Arctic summer sea ice cover, and to assess the economic and social impacts of this collapse on regional and global scales. This will be achieved by three types of interlinked activity: observations, primarily through the use of autonomous platforms and remote sensing, of physical processes which are vital in climate and ecosystem change but which may not be adequately represented in current models; the use of the data in AWI ice-ocean-atmosphere models to project the rate and nature of future change; and the application of an economic model, a development of that used in the Stern Report, to calculate the impact of these projected changes upon the global economic and social system. Complementing the economic model will be a direct study of impacts upon the society of northern Greenland. The observation programme will include the deployment of buoys to map the state of the lower atmosphere, ocean and sea ice, including light penetration, biogeochemical parameters and radiative fluxes. Mass balance buoys will map ice growth, decay and ocean wave effects. Satellite data will be used to observe ice types and dynamics, pancake ice growth and decay through wave dispersion, and atmospheric methane levels. This will be the first time that a leading global economics impact model has been coupled with a physical climate model to directly assess the economic impact of observed and projected climate change events. It is being applied to the oceanic region of greatest current concern to the global community because of the speed of visible change there. Since the results of the project require immediate application to the resolution of climate change and development problems, special efforts will be made to communicate results to policy makers and the media, building on the existing success in this area of the related DAMOCLES and ACCESS projects.

Con la llegada de la misión SMOS primero, y después con las misiones Aquarius y SMAP, todos ellas operando sensores pasivos en banda L, la teledetección satelital en el rango de microondas ha incrementado enormememente su potencial para la observación de la Tierra. Dado que la adquisión en microondas es factible bajo casi cualquier condición meteorológica, este rango del espectro electromagnético es especialmente adecuado para la medición repetida y predecible de variables críticas para la comprensión del sistema climático terrestre (especialmente las del ciclo del agua). Además, las observaciones en microondas permiten generar productos con un gran impacto social y económico (índices de sequía, riesgo de fuego forestal, cartas de navegación ártica). En este momento existe un gran interés en extender las aplicaciones de la radiometría en banda L a nuevos ámbitos, tratando de extraerle su máximo potencial. Fruto del éxito y la versatilidad demostratados por la misión SMOS, los estados miembros de ESA aprobaron la extensión de la misión hasta como mínimo el 2017, y en el momento actual se discute poner en marcha nuevas misiones de explotación de la radiometría en banda L. Al mismo tiempo, las más tradicionales misiones que operan sensores activos de microondas (difusómetros y radares) completan la observación radiométrica proporcionando observaciones fiables y complementarias a las de la radiometría, también bajo cualquier condición meterológica El proyecto PROMISES pretende demostrar el potencial de la observación de la Tierra en las microondas mediante tres grandes ejes. El primer eje es la mejora la calidad de las observaciones actuales en banda L y más específicamente de SMOS, tanto a nivel de procesado como explotando las sinergias y complementariedades con otros sensores. El segundo eje consiste en la demostración del potencial de estas medidas de alta calidad mediante aplicaciones de alto impacto social y económico. El tercer eje consiste en el análisis de la tecnología actual para proponer las posibles mejoras en el instrumento y procesado para derivar los principios de futuros sensores basados en esta tecnología. El proyecto PROMISES se fundamenta en las fructíferas actividades entorno a SMOS que los tres equipos investigadores vienen llevando a cabo desde 1994, y que desde 2007 son vertebradas a través del centro experto BEC, el cual da en la actualidad soporte y visibilidad a la participación española en SMOS, especialmente desde que en 2013 el BEC asumió la producción operacional de productos de SMOS de alto nivel a través del CP34-BEC.

The returning latitudinal flow in the Atlantic Ocean closes the global overturning circulation (GOC), setting the rate of transfer of key properties (heat, carbon, nutrients) to the surface ocean and supplying for deep water formation at high latitudes in the North Atlantic. Simple mass conservation arguments require the returning limb of the GOC to continuously supply for the rate of formation of deep waters, with implications on the likely existence of teleconnections between the principal elements of this returning circuit. Among these elements there are two regions of major western boundary retroflections, both taking place along the eastern margin of South America: the Brasil-Malvinas Confluence (BMC) and the equatorial zonal retroflections (EZR). The VA-DE-RETRO ("go back" in Latin, or "deals with retro" in Spanish) project hypothesizes that both BMC and EZR are key regions to understand the behavior of the Earth system and, therefore, aims at improving our knowledge of their local and remote functioning. The general objectives are: to understand the drivers, mechanisms and characteristics of the retroflections themselves; to track the paths, transformations and ultimate destination of these retroflecting waters; and to identify the teleconnections allowing the two retroflecting regions to operate in one unified mode. Both the BMC and EZR are the outcome of intense western boundary current retroflections but they take place at very distinct latitudes, with important differences in the intensity and the vertical and temporal extent of the bifurcation. Their joint study with will be carried out through the analysis of climatological, satellite, hydrographic and numerical data, together with the analysis of data from two specific hydrographic cruises and subsurface instrumented drifters developed by the research group. The project represents a unique opportunity (1) to improve our understanding of the different mechanisms that set these retroflections, (2) to examine advective-diffusive processes taking place in the associated frontal systems, (3) to assess their current role in the large-scale transport and diversion of water mass and the load of physical and chemical properties, (4) to identify what factors may control their variability at different time scales, (5) to combine standard hydrographic stations with velocity, microstructure and biogeochemical measurements, (6) to study the paths followed and transformations experienced by the retroflecting waters before eventually reaching back to the western currents in route to the northern Atlantic deep-water formation regions, and (7) to study the teleconnections between the principal drivers of regional bifurcations with global impact. From the technological and strategic point of view, the project also represents an opportunity (8) to continue the development of instrumented drifters and other tools useful to the international oceanographic community, (9) to continue participating in international programs, such as the South Atlantic Meridional Overturnning Circulation, and (10) to optimize the yearly transits of the BIO Hespérides to and from Antarctica.

Scatterometer-derived sea-surface vector winds, such as those from the Advanced Scatterometers (ASCAT-A & B) onboard Metop-A & B, and atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) derived from geostationary satellite images, such as those provided with MSG satellite series by NWC/GEO-HRW algorithm, are routinely assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Two particular relevant problems in the Atmospheric Motion Vectors are: - The height assignment process, in which sometimes it is difficult to find an optimum pressure level for the derived AMVs, due to the vertical extension of the cloud and moisture tracers which are tracked by the AMV algorithm. This way, the “height assignment process” keeps on being the main source of errors related to the calculated AMVs. - The general scarcity, and the larger errors, of AMV data at the lowest atmospheric levels (near the ground). This is caused by the fact that with the current implementations, AMVs cannot be calculated below a layer of opaque clouds, so limiting the capabilities of the algorithm to extract winds near the surface. On the other side, validation statistics of low level AMVs (between 700 and 1000 hPa) have always shown to be the worst, in part due to the larger difficulties to differentiate and track clouds near the ground, which in infrared channels do not differentiate too much from the surrounding ground, and in part also due to the difficulties to relate the AMVs (mean winds related to the displacement of a tracer during several minutes) with the winds near the ground (which change in shorter temporal and spatial frames). The goal of this study is to perform a preliminary characterization of the differences between ASCAT winds and AMVs near the surface, as a function of the AMV height and wind variability conditions at the surface. This study also aims at assessing the potential of using scatterometer winds to characterize possible systematic errors in the AMVs and their estimated heights. ----------------------------------------------

Recent developments on the Ku-band scatterometer wind geophysical model function (GMF) include a sea surface temperature (SST) dependent term. It has been found that the SST effects on the radar backscatter are wind speed dependent and more pronounced in vertical polarization (VV) than in horizontal poolarisation (HH) and at higher incidence angles, and are only relevant at radar wavelenghts smaller tan C-band. The new Ku-band GMF, NSCAT-5, is based on a physical model and Rapidscat radar backscatter measurements, which are only available at two incidence angles, i.e., 49⁰ and 56⁰, for HH and VV beams, respectively. The aim of this study is to verify the NSCAT-5 GMF at other incidence angles, using data from the recently-launched Indian SCATSat-1, which operates at 42.6⁰ (HH) and 49.3⁰ (VV) incidence angle.

The COMMON SENSE project will contribute to support the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and other EU policies (e.g. Common Fisheries Policy), providing easily usable across several platforms, cost-effective, multi-functional innovative sensors to detect reliable in-situ measurements on key parameters by means of methodological standards. This proposal will focus, by means of a multidisciplinary and well-balanced consortium on eutrophication, contaminants, marine litter and underwater noise descriptors of the MSFD. This proposal will first provide a general understanding and integrated basis for sensors cost effective development (WP1 and WP2). Within the following WPs (5-8) the project will design and develop new generation sensors focused on the detection of: (1) nutrient analytes by utilising well-established colorimetric chemistries for phosphate, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite (2) low concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Hg Cd, Zn and Cu), (3) surface concentration of microplastics (4) underwater noise by means of a bespoke acoustic sensor pod. These sensors, developed onto modular systems, will be integrated into multifunctional packages (WP4). Innovative transversal sensors (e.g. temperature, pressure, pH and pCO2) will be also integrated to provide the variables with a comprehensive reference frame. The Common Sensor Web Platform will be created (WP3) aiming at bringing a more sophisticated view of the environment implementing the sensor web enablement standards but optimising e.g. data acquisition, access and interoperability. The sensors developed will be interoperable with existing and new observing systems and they will also be field tested (WP9) by means of different platforms (e.g. research vessels, racing yachts, buoys). Dissemination and exploitation activities (WP10) will enable to transfer knowledge and technology resulting from the project to be used with commercial, scientific, conservational and strategic purposes.

Relevant rain-induced dynamics near moist convection in the tropics are not resolved by General Circulation Models (GCMs) and the parameterization of its effects is poor. This poses a limitation to the understanding of tropical circulation in particular.

This Associated Visiting Scientist study proposal aims to use the ASCAT-A and -B tandem mission with the Meteosat Second Generation rain product (KNMI) to quantify correlations and lags of heavy/extreme rain with small-scale wind convergence/divergence and vorticity for the purpose of improving our understanding of moist convection and its implications for climate circulation and of convective parameterizations in GCMs.

ConnectinGEO’s primary goal is to link existing coordinated Earth observation networks with science and technology (S&T) communities, the industry sector and the GEOSS and Copernicus stakeholders. The aim is to facilitate a broader and more accessible knowledge base to support the needs of the GEO Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) and their users. A broad range of subjects from climate, natural resources and raw materials, to the emerging UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be addressed.

Monitoring of the marine environment is fundamental (a) from the operational marine and maritime perspective, (b) to assess the evolution of the health of our oceans and (c) to better understand how the oceans control the climate of our planet at local, regional and global scales. Offshore facilities are a principal element to carry out such monitoring, as they may be used, on one hand, to install devices sampling the ocean conditions and, on the other hand, to develop new measuring instruments, technologies and strategies.

Our proposal aims at making a step forward in the direction of improving our capacity of gathering data of the ocean environment through joining the knowledge, skills and strategies of physical oceanographers in three well-known marine centers (Spain, Mexico and Brazil) and the support of three oil companies which have offshore oil facilities (Repsol, Petrobras and Pemex). The objectives of the proposal are (a) to implement a strategy that uses offshore oil structures as platforms for testing oceanographic instrumentation and gathering oceanographic data, and (b) to begin a pilot sampling and testing exercise with three offshore platforms.

El objetivo de este proyecto es probar el uso de radiómetros de banda C y L, además de los criterios actuales en la derivación de los puntos de calibración (tie-points) dinámicos durante la época de fusión del hielo marino, en verano, para reducir así la incertidumbre de la concentración de hielo marino, obtenido con el algoritmo de OSISAF, durante el verano.

In contrast with scatterometer wind data, NWP models do not well resolve (among others) the mesoscale sea surface wind flow under increased wind variability conditions, such as in the vicinity of low-pressure centers, frontal lines, and moist convection. In this project, several important issues are addressed in order to improve the impact of scatterometer data assimilation into global and regional NWP models, including: wind bias correction, model error structure functions and situation-dependent Observation/Background error estimation, appropriate thinning strategy, and improved scatterometer wind quality control.

Argo is an international array of 3000 profiling floats that measure temperature and salinity throughout the deep global oceans, down to 2,000 metres. It is the single most important global in-situ observing system for the GMES Marine Service. Argo provides critical observations of the ocean interior that are required to constrain, together with satellite observations, GMES Marine Service modelling and forecasting systems. The European long-term contribution to Argo is organized as part of the Euro-Argo research infrastructure that will become in early 2012 a new European legal entity. The main challenges for Argo and Euro-Argo are 1/ to maintain the global array and ensure its long term sustainability and 2/ prepare the next phase of Argo with an extension towards biogeochemistry, the polar oceans, the marginal seas and the deep ocean. Meeting such challenges is essential for the long term sustainability and evolution of the GMES Marine Service. This requires major improvements in Argo float technology. New floats with improved capabilities are or will be soon available from float manufacturers. They require, however, extensive testing at sea before they can be used for operational monitoring. The Euro-Argo data centers need also to be upgraded so that they can handle these new floats. E-AIMS will organize an end-to-end evaluation of these floats (from float design down to the use by GMES). Observing System Evaluations and Sensitivity Experiments will also be conducted to provide robust recommendations for the next phase of Argo that take into account GMES Marine Service, seasonal/decadal climate forecasting and satellite validation requirements. E-AIMS will thus demonstrate the capability of the Euro-Argo infrastructure to conduct R&D driven by GMES needs and demonstrate that procurement, deployment and processing of floats for GMES can be organized at European level. These are key aspects for the long term sustainability of GMES in-situ component.

The main goal of the MESTRAL project is to investigate the presence of small-scale transport processes in the Alfacs Bay, and how they affect the spatial patterns of optically active constituents (sediments, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter) and the underwater light-field variability. It focuses at the Alfacs Bay because such a study would provide a better understanding of the influence of forcing and main circulation patterns in the functioning of a coastal ecosystem that sustains key economic activities in the region.

The study stands upon two main sources of information: a set of field data obtained with high resolution (in space and time) observing systems, and a set of numerical models. The proposed observing system includes conventional instrumentation and advanced systems such as autonomous or unmanned vehicles, and very high resolution profilers. The numerical models are state of the art of ocean and estuarine models (ROMS and SID3D), already implemented at the Alfacs Bay, which will be coupled with optical (radiative transfer) water and biogeochemical models. The numerical models will be calibrated with the help of historical databases and with the collected data proposed here.

The SMOS satellite, launched in November 2009, is the first ESA Earth observation (EO) mission coled by Spain. With an unprecedented EO scientific, technological, and industrial leading role, Spain’s goal has been to produce, for the first time, global sea surface salinity and soil moisture maps by means of the novel synthetic aperture interferometric radiometer (MIRAS). Thanks to the Spanish National R\&D program and ESA funding, and with the support from CDTI, the proposing team has successfully addressed various scientific and technological challenges, such as: i) establish an operational data production and dissemination centre in Spain, the CP34; ii) to bring together scientific and technological know-how within the CP34 associated expert centre, the SMOS BEC; and iii) to consolidate new teams and facilities dedicated to the development of SMOS products. After two years of intense work, the SMOS nominal products will be soon consolidated. As such, this proposal also focuses, for the first time, on the development of novel SMOS-based added-value products and new applications of interest for the industry and public managers. Moreover, to capitalize the know-how of the team, this proposal addresses new challenges as the SMOS synergy with new EO missions or the development of new products beyond SMOS. However, to maintain the international role of Spain in this leading-edge scientific area is necessary to consolidate this specialized and talented team together with its synergy with the industry.

We propose to study the dynamics of three regions in the Atlantic Ocean, all of them key factors controlling the intensity of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC), what we name Tipping Corners of the MOC (TIC-MOC). These are: (TC1) the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) west of the Strait of Gibraltar, to a large degree responsible for the salinification of the upper thermocline in the North Atlantic Ocean; (TC2) the North Brazil Current (NBC) system, which is the single path for water and heat return from the South to the North Atlantic, the returning limb of the MOC; and (TC3) the Atlantic Southern Ocean, where deep waters are formed and upwelled at very distinct rates, to a large extent depending on the intensity in the water-column stratification. At first sight the three regions could appear as disconnected but this is not so, not only because of their principal relevance to the MOC but also because they all experience switches between two different states, potentially capable of producing substantial changes in the intensity of the MOC and its transported properties. The dynamics of these switches, what we call corners, between two different states likely bears important similarities in all three regions; therefore, we will have a joint approach to the study of each individual region, sharing conceptual, numerical, and experimental tools and ideas. Our first objective is to investigate the controlling mechanisms and range of variability of the MOW characteristics as it plunges into the eastern Gulf of Cadiz, in particular why and how the MOW may switch from subcritical to supercritical conditions. Secondly, we will study the dynamics controlling the NBC, a very peculiar low-latitude western boundary current, with a bimodal behavior, alternating between straight alongshore flow and separation-retroflection. Finally, we will pursue to improve our understanding of the key mechanisms responsible of changes in Southern Ocean stratification and how it is related to the rate of deep water formation, upwelling and vertical mixing, and consequently, the CO2 physical and biological pumps. To reach each of these objectives we will use specific ideas but will also take advantage of common tools, in particular numerical models and instrumented buoys. We will optimize ship time, using the R/V García del Cid to study TC1 (21 days requested), and two transits of the R/V Hespérides to and from the Antarctic continent to investigate TC2 and TC3 (a total of 28 days requested, additional to transit times). Further, we will tune and use numerical models for the whole Atlantic (and global) ocean to understand each individual region, and the links between them, and will continue our development of instrumented drifters, which will be deployed in the NBC and Southern Ocean during the cruises. The global objective is to make the best out of our previous experience on these regions and to optimize the resources available for their study, in such a way that it leads to an iterative learning process, with the involvement of Spanish teams in international programs and a significant advance in our knowledge of these important regions.

The Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE) is a state body involved on ocean and fishery resources research. Explotation of fishery resources, such as anchovy, corvina and sole, among others, is a sector of great importance for the Peruvian economy. The importance of this fishing grounds caused that IMARPE in 1990 started periodic oceanographic cruises to study the physical and chemical conditions of those waters where fisheries take place.

The cruises have been done periodically between 4°S and 17°S, on average between three and four cruises per year for a total of 64 cruises over distances that vary between 100 and 200 nautical miles and up to depths between 500 and 1000 m. The measured variables have been temperature and salinity, and dissolved oxygen and inorganic nutrients, plus some velocity data in several cruises. The project aims at establishing an effective collaboration with IMARPE, for scientific advise on the processing of these data sets. It is also an excellent opportunity to establish a fruitful collaboration with the most prestigious Marine Research Institute of Peru.

The evolution of the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) and seasonal ice-edge retreat is a complex interplay between a number of dynamic and thermodynamic processes, with potentially strong feedbacks between them. The influence of wind, waves, and passing storms creates a highly variable distribution of floe sizes near the ice edge, both spatially and temporally. This dynamically-forced break-up can enhance thermodynamic melt through increased solar absorption in newly formed open water, melt of broken ice and brash, and wave-induced melt and upwelling of warmer water from below. The transfer of momentum from the atmosphere to the ocean surface through wind produces waves. The amplitude, speed and period of these waves is a function of the strength and duration of the wind, as well as the amount of open-water the transfer of energy occurs over (i.e., the fetch). With the predicted on going, and likely continuing, reduction of summer sea ice extent in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas and the distance from the Alaskan coast to the nearest ice edge in summer increasing from a few hundred kms to over 1000 km, these long stretches of open water and fetch will generate unprecedented wave conditions in the Arctic. The observed increase in storm intensity in the Arctic suggests that there will be more extensive fracturing of the ice cover is possible in the future. Due to the complexity and lack of in situ data wave-ice interaction are poorly understood and hence poorly represented in large-scale sea ice models, if at all. However, technological advances have allowed us to take advantage of single-chip sensors that are common place on today’s mobile phones. These chips can to be utilized for wave research i.e. a 9-degrees of freedom (9DoF) chip that consists of a 3-D magnetometers, 3-D gyroscopes and 3-D accelerometers. When combined with the possibility to transmit large quantities of data through satellite communication systems we have the possibility to develop wave buoys (WB) that are inexpensive and can continuously monitor the wave conditions within an ice covered, MIZ, or open sea.

A través de este contrato, el ICM colabora en las actividades de la Agencia Espacial Europea para la mejora de la calibración y la reconstrucción de imágenes del satélite SMOS. Las tareas consisten en el desarrollo de algoritmos de calibración y reconstrucción de imagen para la mejora de los productos de temperatura de brillo, en particular, para la mejora de la estabilidad orbital y estacional y para la reducción de los artefactos que se generan en las imágenes debido por ejemplo a las interferencias captadas por el radiómetro. Parte de estas actividades se centran también en la evaluación del impacto que estas mejoras en las temperaturas de brillo tienen en la calidad de la salinidad recuperada.

The project aims to develop low-cost systems to retrieve and use data on water colour, transparency and fluorescence, specifically using smart-phone cameras and other sensors combined with georeferencing and a community-based Internet platform, inspired by existing experiences with other parameters (e.g., Secchi Dip-In, Coastwatch Europe and Oil Reporter). Simple and fast methods to establish the optical properties of water will be used; e.g., the colour through Forel-Ule observations, and transparency through a variant of the Secchi disc. People will be able to take photographs of the colour of the sea surface during their holidays, on ferries or other vessels, at the open sea or from the beach. Data (e.g., JPG phone-image, geolocation) are automatically uploaded through a specific service or application (such as Google+ or Facebook), archived remotely and processed, and resulting information is accessed through a webpage or a mobile application by end users. These are: policy makers and administrations, which will be able to use the information to improve the management of the coastal zone; and citizens, who will be able to maximize their experience in activities in which water quality has a role.

Over the last few years, considerable development of the ASCAT Wind Data Processor (AWDP), and in particular of the two-dimensional variational (2D-Var) ambiguity removal (AR) scheme, has been carried out. This has led to robust and consistent ASCAT Level 2 wind data products at various resolutions (25-km and 12.5 km) and sigma0 processing types, i.e., nominal (Hamming window averaging) and coastal (box-car averaging) processing. As smaller scales are revealed, the mesoscale analyses and consequently 2D-Var become more challenging. Nevertheless, a more detailed and case-study-oriented analysis has revealed that in certain conditions (see figure example), 2D-Var selects the wrong ambiguity along wind fronts, leading to noticeable misplacements of the front lines. Preliminary analysis shows that this is very likely induced by three factors: a) a wrong background field (i.e., when ECMWF fails to place the wind front in the correct location); b) ASCAT being a dual wind ambiguity system (in which, generally, two equally-likely solutions with similar wind speeds and opposed wind directions are obtained from inversion); c) an alignment (or close to alignment) of the erroneous NWP wind directions with the ASCAT wind ambiguities. When these three conditions occur, 2D-Var resolved wind front (convergence) is located where the wrong background (ECMWF) front is, since ASCAT wind ambiguities in themselves do not provide meaningful information to 2D-Var about where the convergence takes place (both ambiguities are equally likely). However, additional ASCAT information on the location of such wind disturbances is in principle available to help the 2D-Var process (see figure). This AS study proposal aims at the development of complementary information derived from the inversion and from an image processing technique (i.e., the so-called singularity analysis) to improve the current 2D-Var AR scheme for ASCAT in mesoscale conditions.

MEDESS-4MS service is dedicated to the maritime risks prevention and strengthening of maritime safety related to oil spill pollution in the Mediterranean. The main goal of MEDESS-4MS is to deliver an integrated operational multi model oil spill prediction service in the Mediterranean, connected to existing oil spill monitoring platforms (EMSA-CSN, REMPEC and AIS data), using well established oil spill modeling systems, the environmental data from the GMES European Marine Service and the MS national ocean forecasting systems. The overall objectives of the project are: - To implement an integrated real time oil spill multi –model prediction service for the Mediterranean; - 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 develop an integrated user interface system with a unique Web point providing an interactive access to the different multi-model service scenarios, to suit the requirements of EMSA-CSN, REMPEC and the generic users. - To test the service functionalities with ‘key end-users’: REMPEC, EMSA and other end-users such as national agencies combating oil spills and private profit commercial companies; MEDESS-4MS does not aim at developing new elementary service chains but will integrate and consolidate the existing ones, based on the experience gained through the interaction with operational response agencies, REMPEC and EMSA during real oil spill incidents in the region and the demonstrations and inter-calibration exercises carried out in the framework of EC projects. Seven of the project partners are operating during the last 10 years forecasting centers, while six partners are providing individually oil spill predictions at local and sub-regional level, in close cooperation with their national operational response agencies.

This COST Action aims at coordinating the European studies concerning the oceanographic data exploitation of the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite mission. Recently launched in November 2009, SMOS will provide for the first time Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) maps over the oceans. The monitoring of ocean salinity, a variable of renowned importance in the broader scientific context of the climate change analysis, underlines the European relevance of the Action. The overall goal targeted by the network is the synergy of the European efforts in the interpretation of the measurements and their applications, profiting from the imminent availability of SMOS data. This COST Action will coordinate European teams working on two major research areas. The first one will focus on the improvement and development of SMOS-derived data products. The second will assess the added value of such products in operational oceanography, process and climate studies. This Action is the ideal framework to capitalize the often fragmented efforts of the identified experts working in these research areas.

Given increasing interest in the development of the capabilities for small and large scale characterization of phytoplankton biodiversity, the aim of this project is to evaluate and optimize analytical methods based on advanced observational technologies (i.e., hyperspectral optical sensors and high spatial-temporal resolution platforms). The use of these new technologies to their full potential will allow a better assessment of the variability of phytoplankton in the coastal and open ocean, as well as a better understanding of the marine phytoplankton’s role in the global marine ecosystem and biogeochemical cycles.

ICM, through its Department of Physical and Technological Oceanography, is from 2005 an Expert Support Laboratory for the design and further development of the Level 2 Ocean Salinity processor of the European Space Agency SMOS satellite mission.

The ESL tasks consist in designing the algorithms to compute sea surface salinity from SMOS radiometric measurements. And, since the satellite was launched and started delivering scientific data in early 2010, to analyse the quality of the retrieved salinity and propose improvements in the data processing chain in order to achieve the mission goal in terms of accuracy. Our ESL activities have been funded through a series of successive subcontracts with the company (first ACRI-st, then ARGANS) contracted by ESA to implement the L2OS processor.

“MARduino: my buoy, our data and the sea" aims at raising public awareness about the importance of seawater preservation using an original method that takes advantage of the new concept of citizen science. Workshops will be organised where participants learn to independently build with household materials a low cost oceanographic buoy equipped with sensors. With this type of instrument we can estimate water transparency, a parameter that people commonly relate to environmental quality (transparent waters are associated with crystalline waters and high environmental quality, while nontransparent waters are associated with "turbid" water with low environmental quality).

This series of workshops will be complemented by informative tools: 1) a website about the concept of water transparency and its importance that will also be used for georeferencing the installed buoys and collecting instrument data. 2) A series of videos in which the operation of the sensors will be explained and where each stage of the buoys assembly will be detailed. 3) Information leaflets

The aim of this project is to improve the current operational quality control of the ASCAT level 2 wind product, notably under rainy conditions. A new image processing technique will be tested to complement the current QC algorithm developments in the OSI SAF CDOP2, i.e., the inversion residual or MLE-based QC. The new technique, the so-called Singularity Analysis, refers to any technique capable of evaluating the local singularity exponents of a given function around each one of its points. The concept of singularity exponent extends that of differentiability to a continuous range of cases, across which the regular character of the function can steadily vary. Singularity exponents also allow characterizing non-regular behaviours such as discontinuities and even actual divergences of the function to infinity. When analyzing ASCAT operational wind maps, singularity fronts are induced (Turiel et al., 2012). This is mainly due to the fact that singularity analysis is applied to bi-dimensional maps of a given variable which is submitted to a process taking place in three dimensions. As such, convergence and divergence areas associated with circulation cell boundaries will show up as singularity fronts in ASCAT-derived maps, because they represent actual separation between two flow regimes as observed by the satellite. However, other effects not related to wind circulation induce spurious singularity fronts. For instance, recent studies show that errors in the ASCAT retrieved wind speed and/or direction lead to marked singularity fronts. Moreover, the presence of heavy rain induces clear spurious singularity fronts in ASCAT wind maps. Although separating rain-induced singularity fronts from wind-induced ones is challenging, preliminary results show the technique’s potential to assess the quality of the scatterometer retrieved wind fields. To contribute to the current ASCAT operational QC, further SA developments are required. We propose to focus on analysing the relation between singularity fronts, for the ASCAT wind vector and each wind component (i.e., U, V, speed and direction) separately, and all geophysical phenomena which affect the radar backscatter signal, including rain, local wind variability, confused sea state, etc. Besides the retrieved wind, other ASCAT-derived parameters, such as the backscatter measurements and the inversion residuals (MLE), will be used to generate singularity maps. These may reveal further characteristics of the ASCAT data in convective areas, which can lead to improving both ASCAT wind retrievals and QC. Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model output, satellite derived rain data (e.g., the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission’s (TRMM) Microwave Imager or TMI, and the Meteosat Second Generation or MSG), as well as in-situ (moored buoys) rain and wind data will be used to assess the rain impact on ASCAT winds and the SA effectiveness. Both the MLE QC-based and the singularity analysis methods are expected to be more effective when applied on higher-resolution ASCAT products, i.e., 12.5-km and coastal products (see OSI SAF product at http://www.knmi.nl/scatterometer/ ). On the one hand, ASCAT is expected to better resolve higher resolution wind phenomena (e.g., convergence and downbursts); on the other hand, the rain splashing signal, being patchy and intermittent, is expected to become more evident at smaller ASCAT footprints. As such, we will extend this study to the ASCAT full resolution products.

After the successful launch of SMOS in November 2009, the operational phase of the mission will start by mid 2010. Spain has been involved with unprecedented scientific, technological and industrial leading role in this European Earth Observation mission that aims at providing for the first time global measurements of surface ocean salinity and soil moisture, using a L-band aperture synthesis interferometric radiometer (MIRAS).
Through a series of activities funded by CDTI (technology), the National R+D Plan, and ESA, the proposer team has been able to significantly contribute to the mission. This new proposal aims at consolidating the main results achieved in the previous projects, but also introduces new solutions to the problems on the instrument behaviour, which show up now that the first real SMOS measurements are available. At the same time, we have to maintain the activities of the original high-level Spanish contribution to the mission, the CP34 system, both in its operational aspects at ESAC and in the scientific components, validating and improving its products.
Finally, a fundamental scientific objective is to start demonstrating the usefulness of SMOS, through several activities addressing the data exploitation in climatic, oceanographic and hydrologic applications. From now on, Spain should obtain the scientific and societal return of the economic and institutional efforts invested on SMOS, and the present proposal is a clear step forward in this direction.

The TOSCA project aims to develop a long-lasting network of policy makers & scientists for observation & forecasting of marine accidents (oil pollution, Search And Rescue (SAR) operations …), in the Mediterranean Sea. TOSCA will supply forecast models, risk maps & action plans developed by the scientists in collaboration with the local authorities, which will enable them to improve their immediate response capacity & to ensure a sustainable costal monitoring.
The TOSCA (Tracking Oil Spills & Coastal Awareness network) project, cofinanced by the European Regional Development fund in the framework of the Med Programme, aims to improve the quality, speed and effectiveness of decision-making process in case of marine accidents in the Mediterranean concerning oil spill pollution and search and rescue (SAR) operations.
To answer this objective, the following specific objectives will be met during the project:
1. Develop a sustainable scientific monitoring & forecasting system. Through the construction of an observational network, based on state of the art technology (HF radars and drifters), the project will provide real-time observations and forecasts of the marine environmental conditions in the Western and Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. The system will be installed and assessed in five test sites on the coastal areas of oil spill outlets (Eastern Mediterranean) and on high traffic areas (Western Mediterranean). The use of state of the art technology will provide more accurate oil spill tracking and trajectory forecasts.
2. Create a support tool for decision-making process in case of maritime accidents. Gathered data will be combined in a useful decision support tool for authorities in charge of marine emergency response. Based on the needs of local authorities around the Mediterranean, the system will be implemented on a territorial scale and will provide critical information to support decision-making process in case of maritime accident (objects and oil spill tracking and trajectories, ocean current and dispersion maps, mapping of risk areas, vulnerability maps...)
3.Elaborate a common management strategy on oil spill and SAR operations. The network will be used to implement action plans in collaboration with local authorities as well as a common scientific strategy in cooperation with policy makers to provide immediate response, mitigation and long term management of oil spill pollution and SAR operations in case of marine accidents.

MyOcean is a project granted by the European Commission within the GMES Program (7th Framework Program), whose objective is to define and to set up (definition, design, development and validation) a concerted and integrated pan-European capacity for ocean monitoring and forecasting using nationally-available skills and resources. The areas it is aimed at are: Maritime Security, Oil Spill Prevention, Marine Resources Management, Climate Change, Seasonal Forecasting, Coastal Activities, and Monitoring Ice Sheet surveys, Water Quality and Pollution.

The aim of this project is to improve the current operational quality control (QC) of the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT onboard MetOp satellite) level 2 wind product as well as to contribute to the development of an updated C-band Geophysical Model Function (GMF), i.e., CMOD-6. We will revisit the ASCAT QC on the basis of a thorough inversion residual (MLE) value and sign analysis. Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model output and rain data from satellite radiometry will be used to characterize the ASCAT-derived wind information content as a function of the MLE. Different QC strategies will be defined, if needed, for triplets inside and outside the GMF conical-shape surface in the ASCAT 3-D measurement space. We propose to perform a comprehensive analysis of the MLE value and sign at each wind vector cell (WVC) to check for possible GMF misfits, i.e., significant asymmetries in the MLE distributions (inside versus outside of the cone). The analysis will be carried out as a function of wind speed and wind direction to evaluate the different GMF coefficients’ (i.e., speed-related, upwind/downwind, upwind/crosswind) contribution to the misfit.

El objetivo fundamental del proyecto MOC2 (Memoria Oceánica del Clima: mecanismos y rutas de formación de aguas superficiales en el Atlántico ecuatorial, referencia CTM2008-06438-C02) es investigar la magnitud del transporte y las transformaciones que experimentan las aguas intermedias en su viaje desde el océano austral hasta su reincorporación en las aguas superficiales del Atlántico Ecuatorial. Para ello se determinarán los flujos de masa, calor, agua dulce, carbono y nutrientes desde el Atlántico Sur hacia el Atlántico Ecuatorial, y se cuantificará la incorporaciçon de las aguas intermedias hacia el océanoo superficial del Atlántico Ecuatorial. Para lograrlo se desarrollarán modelos, y se realizarán y analizarán mediciones de campo, desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar. Esta incluye el análisis de diversos tipos de datos pblicos, esfuerzos de calibración de nuevos sensores satelitales, campañas con mediciones de parámetros físicos, químicos y biológios, modelos oceánicos idealizados y de circulación general del Atlántico, y el mayor desarrollo de boyas de autónomas de mediciónes. El acrónimo MOC2 surge justamente de estas ideas: Meridional Overturning Circulation * Memoria Oceánica del Clima.

El experimento MEDOUT-2010 estaba programado para realizase conjuntamente entre el Institut National de Recherches Halieutiques (INRH) y el Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) en la región de la salida de agua mediterránea, en el marco de los proyectos MEDOUT-2010 (Mediterranean Outflow 2010, proyecto de la AECID con referencia número A/023511/09) y MOC2 (Memoria Oceánica del Clima: mecanismos y rutas de formación de aguas superficiales en el Atlántico ecuatorial, proyecto del Plan Nacional de I+D con referencia número CTM2008-06438-C02-01). Inicialmente se propuso su realización con el B/O García del Cid para Julio de 2010 pero, por imprevistos en el calendario del buque, finalmente será ejecutado en julio de 2011. El objetivo científico del experimento es determinar los mecanismos y magnitud de las transformaciones de las propiedades y estructura de la cuña de agua mediterránea en sus primeras fases de hundimiento en el Golfo de Cádiz oriental. La localización y magnitud de estas transformaciones condiciona los flujos de sal hacia el Atlántico Norte, lo cual es un factor clave en la formación de aguas profundas y, por ende, en el clima de la tierra. Las mediciones se realizarán al Oeste del Estrecho de Gibraltar, en un tramo donde el núcleo de agua mediterránea se hunde unos 400 m mientras fluye primero hacia el Sur, adentrándose en aguas de Marruecos, y después hacia el noroeste, oblicuamente sobre el talud adyacente a la costa española. Durante el experimento se instalarán, en el eje de salida de la cuña de agua mediterránea, dos anclajes con sensores de salinidad-temperatura (micro CTDs) y velocidad del agua (ADCP), mientras desde el B/O García del Cid se realizará un yo-yo en movimiento con un CTD/LADCP (resolución espacial de 1 mn).

El prototipo de nueva sonda oceanográfica que se va a diseñar con este proyecto, constará de cuatro elementos principales

1) un cabezal de sensores, que incluirá un sistema de medición óptico de alta resolución espectral para obtener información sobre los componentes biológicos y químicos presentes en la columna de agua.

2) un sistema de recolección, inicialmente basado en una mini-roseta, aunque se plantea incluir diferentes dispositivos de recolección. El sistema de cierre será controlado electrónicamente por señales de activación, según un esquema de muestreo predeterminado.

3) un sistema de navegación vertical, basado en un sistema hidráulico que modifica dinámicamente la posición vertical de la sonda cambiando la flotabilidad de la misma. El sistema requiere de un sistema de control muy sofisticado (hardware y algoritmos de control) dado que las características dinámicas de la sonda (coeficiente de fricción, etc..) se irán modificando en función de diferentes parámetros (características estructurales de la sonda, número de botellas de muestreo activadas, etc..).

4) un sistema inteligente con capacidad de decisiones en tiempo real.

La ejecución de este proyecto implica una actividad multidisciplinar y trasciende las fronteras del área de Recursos Naturales del CSIC. Las actividades se centraran en cuatro grandes áreas de conocimiento: Biología/Ecología Marina (Instituto Ciencias del Mar, ICM), Instrumentación oceanográfica (Unidad de Tecnología Marina, UTM), Sistemas de Control Automático (Instituto de Automática Industrial, IAI) e Inteligencia Artificial (Instituto de Investigación en Inteligencia Artificial, IIIA).

Debido a que actualmente no existe en la Unidad de Tecnología Marina (UTM) ninguna línea de investigación en mi especialidad, la teledetección por satélite, el objetivo de este proyecto es principalmente el de poner en marcha actividades de I+D en esta línea. Mi labor investigadora se ha centrado hasta ahora en la interpretación geofísica de mediciones de radares y radiómetros de microondas desde satélite, que incluye la calibración y validación de los instrumentos, la modelización de errores, el filtrado de ruido, la inversión no lineal y la integración de datos en modelos numéricos de predicción. En particular, me he especializado en la obtención de campos de viento (y fricción del viento) sobre el mar a partir de radares (dispersómetros y radares de apertura sintética) y de salinidad superficial oceánica a partir del radiómetro de microondas que se lanzará en 2009 a bordo de la misión Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission (SMOS). Este tipo de observaciones de satélite son consideras de máxima prioridad por la comunidad científica, ya que tienen un papel fundamental en meteorología, oceanografía y climatología tanto a nivel académico como operacional. Este carácter prioritario se ve reflejado en la continuidad de este tipo de misiones espaciales, garantizadas por las diferentes agencias espaciales más allá del 2020. Así pues, se propone la puesta en marcha en la UTM de las siguientes actividades de I+D, algunas de ellas enmarcadas ya en proyectos de colaboración con otros centros (ver CV adjunto): 1) Desarrollo de un producto de vientos costeros de alta resolución obtenidos a partir de mediciones de dispersómetro: Una vez consolidados los productos de campos de viento de dispersómetros de 25-50 km de resolución espacial, el objetivo prioritario en dispersometría es obtener productos de campos de viento costeros de alta resolución, muy útiles para estudiar y monitorizar procesos locales/regionales en costas y mares. Para ello, se estudiará principalmente: el comportamiento de la señal de radar retrodispersada en zonas mixtas de mar/tierra o mar/hielo; la adaptación óptima de la malla de observación para aprovechar al máximo las mediciones (sobre el mar) cerca de la costa; y la reducción del ruido en la señal mediante la implementación de filtros espaciales variacionales (como los utilizados en asimilación de datos) que se caracterizan por mantener la información dinámica de alta resolución. 2) Desarrollo de un producto de nivel 3 de fricción del viento oceánico a partir de mediciones de dispersómetro: En modelización oceánica, para resolver las escalas (pequeñas) de los remolinos oceánicos, se necesita información de alta resolución de la dinámica en superficie. Para ello, se propone desarrollar un producto de nivel 3 (mallas de escalas de espacio-tiempo uniformes, con cierta integridad y consistencia espacial) de fricción del viento basado en observaciones de dispersómetros de alta resolución. El estudio se centrará en: el método óptimo (por ej., propagación de perturbaciones) de combinación de observaciones de diferentes dispersómetros (alta resolución) con salidas de modelos atmosféricos; la caracterización de los errores de las diferentes observaciones por comparación mutua; la eliminación de errores sistemáticos; y la calidad y el impacto en modelos oceánicos del producto resultante. 3) Mejoras en la obtención de la salinidad a partir de las mediciones SMOS: Uno de los objetivos de SMOS es el de medir la salinidad con una resolución adecuada para estudios climáticos globales. Para ello, se propone avanzar en la definición de la función geofísica (que relaciona las mediciones del radiómetro con una serie de variables geofísicas, incluida la salinidad); y el método de inversión de salinidad más adecuados, y contribuir en la calibración y validación del instrumento previstas para 2009.

The study of oceans poses important challenges from many points of view, not only scientific but also social and economic. Oceans regulate the climate of the planet and are an important source of natural resources. At a fundamental level, transport and mixing in mesoscale processes (spatial scales from 10 to 100 km) are essential to understand marine ecosistems, to forecast their evolution and, finally, to manage needs and risks (harmful algae blooms, water eutrophization, etc). At an applied level, to understand ocean circulation at the mesosclae is essential to settle the operational oceanography systems required to manage environment risks and maritime security The goal of this project is to explore the applicability of different techniques issued from the domains of Non Linear Physics and Dynamic Systems -Multifractal Techniques (MSS) and Lagrangian Techniques (LT) - for the operational processing and management of natural resources using oceanographic data, mainly satellite data. Theoretical objects like invariant manifolds of invariant trajectories have proved to be useful to determine transport paths in realistic ocean fluxes, to identify transport barriers and even to define objective measures on mixing intensity at different geographical seas. On the other hand, the application of multifractal techniques to thermal images has allowed to obtain estimates on mesoscale surface currents, of potential application for operational purposes. Taking into account that the multifractal structure of a scalar is usually the result of the advection by a turbulent flow, there exists a bridge linking LT with MSS which, if explored, would give rise to more theoretical advances and to new operational techniques. Even if those recent results confirm the potential of these techniques, they are still at an exploratory level regarding its application. The task of converting them in actual tools accessible to the scientific community and those responsible of marine environment management requires a substantial degree of development both in fundamental aspects, understanding their meaning and limitations, as in its practical implementation.

Organización de un congreso európeo sobre procesado de la señal aplicado a datos marinos y sísmicos

The main objective is to study the spatial and temporal coherence of the upper-thermocline current system off Northwest Africa, which constitutes the real boundary condition for the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (NASG). A major fraction of the Canary Current recirculates south associated to an Upwelling Current (CA), transporting water mas nutrients and heat from the Strait of Gibraltar till at least Cape Blanc (where the Cape Verde front is located), with much greater spatial and temporal coherence than the trade winds over the region. Other scientific objectives are (i) to study the seasonal variability in the CA in the Canary Archipelago region, (ii) to examine the seasonal surfacing of the poleward undercurrent that flows along the slope east of the Canary Islands, (iii) to examine the possible winter penetration of the CA south of Cape Blanc, (iv) to quantify the mixing processes experienced by the water parcels as they flow along the upwelling region and in the Cape Verde frontal region, and (v) to quantify the water mass, nutrient and heat transports in the region. Besides these scientific objectives there are four methodological/technological objectives that deserve mentioning: (vi) to develop and apply a methodology to express the salinity as a function of temperature and pressure capable of providing information about the relevant physical processes in the eastern margin of the NASG, (vii) to contribute to the international Argo program by deploying profiling drifters in the CA, (viii) to use high resolution altimetry data for a novel oceanographic application, and (ix) to design and prepare drifting buoys, dragged and instrumented at depth, to determine the subsurface velocity field and the changes in temperature and salinity that a water-parcel experiences during its trajectory.

The MERSEA builds on the current European capabilities for development, implementation and operational use of: marine modelling and data assimilation systems, spaceborne observations and in-situ observing networks and systems. The overall objective is to facilitate the visibility, understanding and exchange of the ocean modelling data, output products for users and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the European Capacity for Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting, i.e. the following existing basin-scale integrated monitoring systems: FOAM (Met. Office, United Kingdom), MERCATOR (MERCATOR-OCEAN, France), MFS (INGV, Italy) and TOPAZ (NERSC, Norway).

ESEOO ha sido un proyecto para promover la Oceanografía Operacional en el ámbito estatal y, más concretamente, para aplicar los conocimientos científicos para mejorar la respuesta ante situaciones de emergencia en el mar, tales como vertidos y seguimiento de objetos a la deriva. En el proyecto han trabajado 24 grupos de investigación, nacionales e internacionales, de varios laboratorios y universidades, y con la participación del Servicio de Salvamento Marítimo Español (SASEMAR).

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Sotillo M.G. , E. Alvarez Fanjul , S. Castanedo , A.J. Abascal , J. Menendez , M. Emelianov , R. Olivella , E. García-Ladona , M. Ruiz-Villarreal , J. Conde , M. Gómez , P. Conde , A.D. Gutierrez , R. Medina. Towards an operational system for oil-spill forecast over Spanish waters: Initial developments and implementation test.. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 56, 4, 686-703.

Machín F. , M. Emelianov , P. Rodríguez , E. García-Ladona , J. Menéndez , J. Salat. XBT profilers for operational purposes: application and validation in real exercises. Scientia Marina, 72, 4, 779-799.