The Copernicus Marine Service: achievements and future plans

The Copernicus Marine Service implemented by Mercator Ocean International (MOi) provides operational, regular, and systematic reference information on blue/white/green ocean state for the global ocean and European regional seas. The service is unique in the world for its coverage and comprehensiveness; its balance between state-of-the-art science and operational commitments; and the consistency of its portfolio where satellite and in situ observations, and 3D model simulations are proposed in coherence to describe, monitor, and forecast the ocean sate. Thirty-five thousand expert downstream services and users are connected to the service. The Copernicus Marine Service responds to public and private user needs and supports policies related to all marine and maritime sectors.

An overview of Copernicus Marine Service achievements during the period 2015-2021 will be first given. Major advances have been achieved.  The offer for the blue, green and white ocean has been regularly improved with new products and marine parameters (surface currents, waves, pH, CO2, icebergs), higher resolution and representation of more dynamical processes, improved product quality and product quality assessment, more satellite data (Sentinels) used as upstream inputs and improved algorithms,  longer time series of reprocessed in situ and satellite data and ocean reanalyses, ocean monitoring indicators and ocean state reports and new visualisation tools.  The uptake of Sentinel-1 (sea-ice, waves), Sentinel-3 (altimetry and surface currents, sea-surface temperature, ocean colour) data and Sentinel-2 (turbidity, ocean colour) has, in particular, greatly improved Copernicus Marine Service offer.  

Drivers and plans for Copernicus 2 (2021-2027) will then be presented. The objective is to further establish Copernicus Marine Service products as a worldwide reference, continue to foster the service uptake and respond to increasing and pressing user and policy needs for improved ocean monitoring and prediction capabilities. MOi in close interaction with the European Commission and member states and with the advice of its scientific and user committees has developed an ambitious plan for the next 7 years that allows a staged implementation depending on budget implementation, user needs and priorities and feasibility/maturity. Three levels of implementation have been identified: baseline, enhanced continuity and new services. Baseline will be implemented from the start of Copernicus 2 to ensure the continuity of the present service. The enhanced continuity and new services streams will build from present and future H2020 and Horizon Europe R&D projects and will be developed depending on budget and priorities. A strong priority is, in particular, to offer new services for the coastal ocean through a co-design and co-development approach between the EU Copernicus Marine Service and coastal marine services operated by member states.

The challenging issues to establish a comprehensive monitoring and forecasting of the global ocean requires international cooperation. The Copernicus Marine Service has established important partnerships (e.g., GOOS and IOC, OceanPredict, GEO and GEO Blue Planet).  The UN Decade of Ocean Science will provide a unique opportunity and framework to strengthen this very much needed international cooperation.