The “Atlantic Observatory – Data and Monitoring Infrastructure”, is a project under the “Blue Growth” Program of the EEA Grants 2014-2021, aiming at the creation of an infrastructure for the acquisition, aggregation and dissemination of oceanographic data that supports research and monitoring of the Atlantic Ocean, for sustainable management of marine resources.
This is a pre-defined project of the Blue Growth Program managed by the Directorate-General for Maritime Policy and is promoted and coordinated by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, a state entity that promotes and coordinates scientific research, technological development, innovation and the provision of services in the field of the sea and the atmosphere. It has a prominent partnership with national entities, including the Regional Fund for Science and Technology, which aims to promote R & D + I in the Scientific and Technological System of the Azores, ARDITI, an agency that promotes support for research and development in the Autonomous Region of Madeira and the Madeira Ocean Observatory, a partner whose mission is to create a common platform for permanent monitoring of the Ocean.
The project will be developed and implemented in close cooperation with partners from Norway (Institute of Marine Research; Norwegian University of Science and Technology and The University of Bergen) and Iceland (Marine and Freshwater Research Institute), benefiting from experience sharing and mutual learning, and ensuring sustainable and long-term partnerships.
The project will take advantage of existing research platforms and infrastructures, such as the research vessel Mar Portugal, and access to Portuguese research laboratories, some of which were developed in the scope of European initiatives, such as EMSO-PT and EMSO- Azores. The data infrastructure will also seek to benefit from other existing marine information systems, such as SNIMAR, SeaBioData or SIMOcean.
The Atlantic Observatory will promote not only the dissemination of high-quality data to the technical and scientific community, but also the creation of products and services to educational, business, and industrial communities, aiming to support and promote sustainable maritime activities.
