The Copernicus Marine Service provides regular and systematic reference information on the physical (including sea ice and wind waves) and biogeochemical states of the global ocean and European regional seas. In the coming years, Copernicus Marine will implement next-generation ocean monitoring and forecasting systems and prepare new services for the coastal ocean, marine biology, and regional climate projections. It will also leverage digital capabilities in synergy with EDITO, the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). EDITO will connect and enable interoperability between a wide range of ocean and coastal numerical tools on a common digital platform, supporting global-to-coastal configurations and the co-development of simulations and what-if scenarios for enhanced on-demand forecasting and ocean climate projections.
The session will address key scientific challenges for the coming years, including: (1) integrating Copernicus Sentinel expansion missions into the observation and modelling systems; (2) developing ocean observation design and impact assessment methods to support a harmonized, fit-for-purpose ocean observing system, in line with the ambitions of the European OceanEye; (3) improving the representation of interactions between ocean, waves, sea ice, biogeochemistry, high-trophic levels, land, and the atmosphere in modelling and data assimilation; (4) quantifying and propagating uncertainties across Copernicus Marine components; (5) further leveraging AI capacities for physical, biogeochemical and ecosystem variables, including direct observation prediction, hybrid AI-numerical modelling, quality control, field reconstruction, data assimilation, calibration, super-resolution, and subgrid-scale parametrisation; (6) developing user-oriented on-demand services and what-if scenarios that fully exploit DTO capabilities, including integration of associated datasets (e.g. socio-economic data); (7) strengthening the ocean science-policy interface through policy-relevant information to support marine hazard preparedness, conservation, early warning, climate adaptation, and evidence-based ocean governance.
Presentations are invited from teams involved in Copernicus Marine, the European DTO, in situ and satellite observing systems, downstream applications, and relevant R&D projects (e.g. Horizon Europe, ESA, etc.). Contributions from the international OceanPredict community and relevant UN Decade programmes and projects are strongly encouraged.