MyOcean’s objective is to set up (definition, design, development and validation) an integrated pan-European capability for ocean monitoring and forecasting, using nationally available skills and resources. Although the budgetary frame of the project is labelled “Research”, the priority is not to conduct further scientific research in the field of operational oceanography, even if this aspect is also taken into account. It is more a question of developing a System of Systems (in the industrial sense), according to the European quality standards, and to achieve operational qualification and eventually qualification of Service. MyOcean is a series of projects granted by the European Commission within the GMES Program (Seventh Framework Program), whose objective is to define and to set up a concerted and integrated pan-European capacity for ocean monitoring and forecasting. The activities benefit several specified areas of use: Maritime security, oil spill prevention, marine resources management, climate change, seasonal forecasting, coastal activities, ice sheet surveys, water quality and pollution. The series of MyOcean projects ended in 2015, and their services are now continued by the Copernicus Programme. The first MyOcean project started on 1 January 2009, scheduled to last for 39 months. It is a follow-up to the MERSEA project (FP6: system implementation phase: 2004-2008), and also integrates some service lines developed as part of ESA’s GSE (GMES Service Elements) projects, particularly Marcoast and PolarView. The follow up project MyOcean2 runs from April 2012 to September 2014 to ensure a controlled continuation and extension of the services and systems already implemented. MyOcean is a consortium of 60 partners in 28 countries (the 22 states of the EU-27 that have a sea coastline, plus Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Morocco, Israel and Canada). Two European bodies (JRC and ECMWF) are also partners of ‘MyOcean’. The (European Environment Agency) and the (European Maritime Safety Agency) are represented on the Board.
The total budget was €55M, of which €33.8M comes from a European Commission subsidy (representing 61% of the total budget), over 36 months. This budget essentially corresponded to staff costs (83.5%), with the second largest item being mission expenses (7.3% of the total budget). Management costs (and external communication costs) represented 4.1% of the total budget. Equipment fees represented 3%.
The total workload corresponded to the equivalent of 190 full-time employees, but in practical terms, there were more than 350 people involved in the project.
The total budget og MyOcean2 was €41M.
