The ODYSSEA project, a Horizon 2020 European funded project, focusses on the Mediterranean Sea. The goal of the project is to develop an extensive, cost-effective, systematic and "friendly" integrated platform. The existing observation and forecasting systems throughout the Mediterranean Basin are combined, both in the open sea and in the coastal area, with the goal of increasing and facilitating the accessibility of existing data. The project will also expand the coverage over time and space of observational data in the Mediterranean. Moreover, secondary information and new information services for end users will be processed.

ODYSSEA will provide primary data and demand-driven data services, including forecasts, from all Mediterranean countries through a single, open access public portal for different groups and end users. The network will extract its data from the numerous databases operated by the EU agencies, public authorities, research institutions and universities of the European Union, as well as the Mediterranean and non-EU countries. It will serve as a “roof” platform for monitoring stations and networks in the Mediterranean (eg Copernicus, GEOSS, Goos, EMODNet, ESFRI, Med-OBIS, GBIF, AquaMaps, atlas, MAPAMED, national and other databases). In addition, data collection and accessibility will be identified and bridged through the development and operation of nine regional monitoring stations and civil science networks.

Deltares' role in the ODYSSEA project will be to cooperate with local parties from countries around the Mediterranean to set-up local observatories. In Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Spain and Greece a Stand Alone FEWS system will be set up and will include global and local data sources and model components for the following processes:

1. Hydrodynamics
2. Wave
3. Water quality

With training on both modelling and Delft-FEWS configuration, the local parties will be equipped with the skills to further develop their operational systems for specific user cases and share these data with the surrounding countries.

For more information, please visit http://odysseaplatform.eu/

Or contact Dave.dekoning@deltares.nl