Through a Horizon Europe guarantee grant, the UK is continuing to provide improved monitoring of the marine ecosystem.
<p>Around the globe, there’s a growing awareness of the importance of the seas for all life on our planet. And if we are to protect the marine environment accurate monitoring and prediction of its behaviour is crucial, we cannot manage what we do not observe.</p>
<p>In Europe, the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) makes sea data available to policymakers, scientists and the wider public. Data which can lead to good, evidence-based decisions regarding the marine environment.</p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>CMEMS has been running since 2014, but there was room for improvement. Aiming to expand its capabilities radically is the Horizon Europe NECCTON (New Copernicus Capability for Trophic Ocean Networks) project.</p>
<p>The European marine science community isn’t a large one, and UK organisations play a central role in it. Dr Jim Clark, Senior Scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We led the original consortium for the NECCTON project, which included all the European marine monitoring and forecasting centres. Since the project started, we’ve been working on transforming the data that CMEMS can provide and expanding its capabilities into new areas. All this is being done with a view to providing better support for marine biodiversity conservation, food-security management and policy-making.</p>
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.ukri.org/news-and-events/horizon-europe-what-we-are-doing-to-support-you/better-models-for-ocean-conservation-horizon-europe-guarantee/" target="_blank">Read the full UKRI article higlighting the NECCTON project and its work. </a>
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