European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) is a large-scale European distributed Research Infrastructure for ocean observation, enabling real-time interactive long term monitoring of ocean processes. EMSO allows study of the interaction between the geosphere, the biosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere; including natural hazards, climate change, and marine ecosystems. EMSO nodes have been deployed at key sites in European seas, starting from the Arctic, through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea.
Overview EMSO is a consortium of partners sharing a common strategic framework of scientific facilities (data, instruments, computing and storage capacity). EMSO is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), a specific legal form created for pan-European large-scale research infrastructures by the European Commission that facilitates the establishment and operation of Research Infrastructures with European interest.. EMSO is one of the environmental RIs Paolo Favali, and Laura Beranzoli. "EMSO: European multidisciplinary seafloor observatory." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 602.1 (2009): 21-27. on the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The ESRFI Roadmap identifies RIs of pan-European importance that corresponds to the long term needs of European research communities.
The different EMSO nodes are designed to address topics of regional importance: the biodiversity of mid ocean hot vents in the Azores region, the rapidly changing environmental conditions affecting the geosphere and biosphere of the Arctic, the deep-water ventilation in the eastern Mediterranean, the active seismicity and the associated geo-hazards of the Anatolian region.Exploring the last great frontier , Projects Magazine, Issue 10, p. 79-81 EMSO infrastructure has the capacity to observe the deep and open ocean, below, at and above the seafloor, at the European scale, utilizing both stand-alone observing systems, and nodes connected to shore stations through high throughput fibre optic cable.Favali, P., Beranzoli, L., D’Anna, G., Gasparoni, F., Marvaldi, J., Clauss, G., Gerber, H.W., Nicot, M., Marani, M.P., Gamberi, F., Millot, C., Flueh, E.R., 2006a. A fleet of multiparameter observatories for geophysical and environmental monitoring at seafloor. Annals of Geophysics 49, 659–680 The mission of EMSO is to unite these regional observatories into a common research infrastructure, to implement more generic sensor packages to collect synoptic data series on oceanographic features of more than regional interest, to bring these data together in a uniform format accessible to the general public, and to ensure maintenance of this research infrastructure over a longer time-span than easily maintained by national funding programs.
Ocean observatories The global oceans cover 70% of the surface of the globe, consist of 95% of the living space, and are the core momentum of our planet's physical, chemical, and biological cycles. As underlined in recent policy documents such as the Galway Statement and Belmont Challenge, in order to understand the changes predicted in the coming decades, EMSO aims to have a continuous presence in the oceans; and in order to understand both the slow moving and rapid catastrophes, EMSO seeks to have continuous real-time data from which to learn and to derive adaptation and early warning systems. Ocean observatories provide power and communications to allow a sustained interactive presence in the ocean. This challenge can only be addressed as part of an international cooperation between USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe and other interested countries where EMSO takes a role for the European side.
Major science themes The deployment of the EMSO distributed observatory nodes is allowing researchers to get useful data in order to understand the behaviour of the oceans and their impact on human society. In particular, EMSO collects data concerning the following main scientific fields:Ruhl, Henry A., et al. "Societal need for improved understanding of climate change, anthropogenic impacts, and geo-hazard warning drive development of ocean observatories in European Seas." Progress in Oceanography 91.1 (2011): 1-33. Geosciences: gas hydrate stability, seabed fluid flows, sub-marine landslides, geo-hazard early warning, mid-ocean ridge volcanism. Physical Oceanography: ocean warming, deep-ocean circulation, benthic and water-column interactions. Biogeochemistry: ocean acidification and the solubility pump, the biological pump, hypoxia, continental shelf exchange, deep-ocean biogeochemical fluxes. Marine Ecology: climate forcing of ecosystems, molecules to microbes, fisheries, marine noise, deep biosphere, chemosynthetic ecology.
EMSO ERIC The Preparatory Phase of EMSO was funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), involving 12 countries of the European area (Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Greece, UK, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, the Netherlands), and Romania (through GeoEcoMar), that has been involved as external interested country from 2010. The Preparatory Phase prepared the foundation for the adoption of the ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium), that is the legal entity in charge of coordinating and facilitating access to these nodes of open ocean fixed point observatory distributed infrastructure.
EMSO ERIC is the central point of contact for observatory initiatives in other parts of the world to set up and promote cooperation in this field. EMSO ERIC integrates research, training, and information dissemination activities for ocean observatory nodes in Europe and enables scientists and other stakeholders to make efficient use of the EMSO distributed infrastructure around Europe.
EMSO Partners HCMR INGV UIT Ifremer CNRS IMI UTM-CSIC UGOT FFCUL ITU-EMCOL NIOZ GeoEcoMar KDM NOCS
List of projects + List of projects Project Full name Year Funding Lead Details Outcome ABEL Abyssal BEnthic Laboratory 1990-1993 FP3-MAST2 Tecnomare M. Berta et al. Abyssal BEnthic Laboratory (ABEL): a novel approach for long-term investigation at abyssal depths, Journal of Marine Systems, Volume 6, Issue 3, 1995, Pages 211-225, ISSN 0924-7963 Feasibility and financial study aimed at identifying the scientific requirements, possible technological solutions and opportunities for the development of an Abyssal BEnthic Laboratory DESIBEL Deep-Sea Intervention on future BEnthic Laboratory 1990-1993 FP3-MAST2 IFREMER https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/MAS20082
"New methods for deep sea intervention on benthic laboratories". DESIBEL project. Final results, comparisons of concepts and at sea validation
V. Rigaud et al. IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society. OCEANS'98. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.98CH36259) Feasibility study aimed at investigating methods for deployment and intervention on future benthic stations GEOSTAR GEophysical and Oceanographic STation for Abyssal Research 1995-1998 FP4-MAST3 INGV https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/MAS3950007 Realization of a multidisciplinary observatory for deep-sea application ALIPOR Autonomous Lander Instrument Packages for Oceanographic Research 1996-1999 FP4-MAST3 University of Aberdeen https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/MAS3950010 Autonomous landers that can conduct experiments and gather data on the sea floor have the potential to revolutionise oceanographic research. By using a number of landers, the spatial and temporal coverage of a single ship can be increased by orders of magnitude. Joint experiments in the Porcupine zone with FP4 – MAST3 BENGAL project. GEOSTAR 2 GEophysical and Oceanographic STation for Abyssal Research 2nd phase: Deep-sea Scientific Mission 1999-2001 FP4-MAST3 INGV https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00061/17268/14778.pdf Deep-sea mission of the observatory realized in the GEOSTAR project. Underwater volcano Massili north of Sicily. ASSEM Array of sensors for long term seabed monitoring of geohazards 2002-2004 FP5-EESD IFREMER https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/EVK3-CT-2001-00051
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00061/17272/14782.pdf The project developed an underwater network for shallow waters (600 m w.d.) able to communicate in two ways with the land through a surface buoy acoustically linked with the underwater systems. Experiment in Gulf of Corinth and Norwegian Fjord. ORION-GEOSTAR-3 Ocean Research by Integrated Observation Networks 2002-2005 FP5-EESD INGV https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/EVK3-CT-2001-00067 http://www.moist.it/projects/orion-geostar3/4
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00061/17268/14778.pdf The project represented the passage from a single node to a constellation, and realized a deep-water network able to communicate in underwater via acoustics with a main node and this main to communicate always via acoustics with a relay surface buoy linked to land via radio and satellite. ORION realized one of the first example of a near-real-time deep-sea network. Experiment in Gulf of Corinth. ESONET-CA European Seafloor Observatory Network-Concerted Action 2002-2004 FP5 University of Aberdeen http://www.abdn.ac.uk/ecosystem/esonet http://www.esonet-noe.org/Associated-projects/ESONET-CA Assessment of European capability in ocean observatories Site identification, technological issues. EXOCET/D EXtreme ecosystem studies in the deep OCEan:Technological Developments 2004-2006 FP6-SUSTDEV IFREMER https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/505342 Technological development of a specific instrumentation allowing the study of natural or accidentally perturbed ecosystems found in the deep ocean. Experiment in MoMar Azores site. ESONIM European Seafloor Observatories Implementation Model 2004-2007 FP6 Marine Institute http://www.esonet-noe.org/Associated-projects/ESONIM Case study on Porcupine Abyssal Plain site to investigate legal and financial aspects and develop a Business Plan. NEAREST Integrated Observations from NEAR shore SourcES of Tsunamis: toward an early warning system 2006-2010 FP6 CNR http://nearest.bo.ismar.cnr.it/documentation NEAREST activities included land investigations in areas of Portugal affected in the past by run-up of tsunamis, inundation maps, oceanographic campaigns for defining specific and reliable velocity models to be used in earthquake localizations, 1-year OBS campaign to detect seismic activity. In particular, INGV was in charge of the deposition for almost 2 years in near-source area in the Gulf of Cadiz at over 3200 m w.d. of a GEOSTAR-type multidisciplinary observatory, specifically enhanced with a prototypal system of Tsunami Early Warning. ESONET-NoE European Seafloor Observatory Network-Network of Excellence 2007-2011 FP6-SUSTDEV IFREMER https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/36851