POSEIDON system: Over two decades of continuous evolving
Ocean observatories are long-term infrastructures dedicated to multiple in situ observations, from air-sea interface to the ocean bottom and the water column, which are maintained over long timescales and can provide critical data for delivering marine weather and ocean services, to ensure safe and efficient maritime operations, and improving response efficiency for extreme events and emergencies. Moreover, they can increase our understanding of ocean processes, deliver further insight into ocean variability, provide scientific assessments to enable environmental prediction and adaptation to climatic change and contributing to a sustainable management of the oceans and coastal areas. POSEIDON system is such an observatory research infrastructure of the Eastern Mediterranean basin, for the monitoring and forecasting of the marine environment, supporting the efforts of the international and local community and replying to the needs and gaps of science, technology and society.
The POSEIDON general aims are: (a) to establish a sustainable marine observing network in the Eastern Mediterranean, (b) to provide quality and validated forecasts of the marine environment, (c) to provide scientific knowledge and support on the study of the ocean mechanisms and their variability, as well as to address the sensitivity of marine ecosystem and biodiversity to combined natural forcing factors and anthropogenic pressures, and (d) to provide a technology test bed and services to marine policy-makers and the society. The system is being developed in accordance to the policy frameworks suggested by IOC/GOOS, EuroGOOS, MonGOOS and GEO while it maintains a balance between the operational and research character of the infrastructure through the integration of methodologies and tools developed in relevant EU initiatives and projects.
The POSEIDON system consist of the following components:
- The observing system, which is composed by a network of moored buoys, two underwater gliders, a ferrybox system, a cabled observatory, a fleet of Argo floats, an HF radar system and a repeated cruises based ecosystem monitoring program.
- The forecasting system which consists by a suite of numerical models that provide in daily basis atmospheric, wave, hydrodynamic and ecosystem forecasts for the next five days.
- The marine technology unit that provides the engineering and technical backbone to operate the observing facilities, while it is also responsible for the testing and integration of new technologies in the monitoring platforms.
- The data management and dissemination unit, which collects and process the data from the monitoring network and distributes the observing and forecasting products to the linked European Infrastructures and to the public.
Being in operation for over two decades, the POSEIDON observing system has been evolved from the initial founded buoy network into a multi-node integrated observatory, adjusting to the leading trends of marine science and technology, which can make use of data come from several platforms, providing the capabilities for ocean monitoring on multiple scales, ranging from ocean state to ocean variability.
1997-2000, POSEIDON Phase I – The foundation
1997-2000, POSEIDON Phase I – The foundation
The building of POSEIDON system was funded by EEA (85%) and the Greek Ministry of Economy (15%): Fifteen Seawatch buoys with satellite links, ten small wave buoys with VHF transmission, a super computer for the numerical modeling together with several workstations for data processing were acquired, twelve marine scientists and engineers were hired, the necessary telecommunication infrastructure was installed. The first pilot buoy deployment was made in October 1998 close to Glyfada coast, while by the next summer eight buoys had been deployed in the Aegean Sea. At the end of 1999, the near real time buoy data and the marine forecasts were available through a dedicated web page and POSEIDON became the first operational oceanography system that was fully implemented in the Mediterranean Sea.
2005-2007, POSEIDON Phase II – The major upgrade
2005-2007, POSEIDON Phase II – The major upgrade
A major upgrade of the POSEIDON system’s observing and forecasting capacity was funded by EEA (85%) and the Greek Ministry of Economy (15%), after five years of operation: Seven Wavescan buoys were added to the existing buoy fleet, providing advanced capabilities such as the deployments in deep basins and the hosting of inductive cables for data transfer in near real time from any depth. Three multiparametric stations for continuous recording of the water column down to 1000 meters were deployed in Athos basin, Cretan Sea and SE Ionian, enhancing the physical and biochemical monitoring capabilities of the network. The acquisition of a powerful High Performance Computer (HPC) system provided the adequate computing power for the implementation of the next generation high resolution numerical models.
2009, HF radar
2009, HF radar
A WERA high-frequency (HF) radar system – named “Dardanos” - was jointly installed in 2009 by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research and the University of the Aegean at the eastern coast of Lemnos island in the framework of an Interreg IIIB 2000-2006 program. The system provides continuous surface current observations of the Black Sea Waters (BSW) inflow to the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles straits, which significantly affects the Northern Aegean physical and biochemical characteristics.
2010-2011, POSEIDON Phase III – Exploring the Deep Mediterranean
2010-2011, POSEIDON Phase III – Exploring the Deep Mediterranean
The further extension of the POSEIDON observing capabilities in deep basins involved the development of an advanced autonomous seabed platform carrying multidisciplinary sensors that could transfer data from the sea bottom to the surface buoy through wireless communication. The platform’s building cost was covered by EEA Grants (50%) and national funds (50%).
2012, FerryBox system
2012, FerryBox system
The complete renewal and upgrade of the Ferrybox system which was installed in a pilot phase in 2004, was funded by the EU FP7 project Jerico. The system operates daily on the route between Heraklion and Piraeus, recording several physical and biochemical parameters from the sea surface while the data is transmitted in near real-time to the POSEIDON operational center.
2012, Greek Argo
2012, Greek Argo
Greek Argo was funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) and aimed to enhance the national contribution in the Euro-Argo European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). The systematic deployment of Argo profilers in the Aegean and Ionian Sea has enhanced the monitoring of the Eastern Mediterranean since more than 2500 profiles have been so far acquired in sub-basins of the Aegean, Ionian, Libyan, and Levantine Seas that were previously under-sampled.
2012, EMSO Hellas
2012, EMSO Hellas
EMSO HELLAS was funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) and aimed to strengthen the Greek national contribution in the EMSO European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) through the development of a cabled observatory that could be deployed in the SE Ionian, close to the existing POSEIDON’s multiparametric Pylos station.
2014, Member of the EURO ARGO ERIC
2014, Member of the EURO ARGO ERIC
As a follow up of the national funding for the implementation of the Greek Argo initiative, HCMR has contributed to the establishment of the Euro-Argo Research Infrastructure (Commission Implementing Decision 2014/261/EU of May 5, 2014), and since then, it participates to the Euro-Argo ERIC representing Greece as a full member.
2015, Partner of Copernicus Service
2015, Partner of Copernicus Service
After the successful participation in MyOcean I, II & FO projects (2009-2015), HCMR is currently member of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) consortium since the official launch of the service in May 2015, supporting the provision and the evolution of the products in the Mediterranean Sea. POSEIDON system operates the Mediterranean node of the CMEMS Insitu Thematic Assembly Center and the Production Center of the wave forecasts for the Mediterranean Sea.
2015, Underwater Gliders
2015, Underwater Gliders
The introduction of the glider component has expanded the POSEIDON system’s observing capabilities, as these underwater autonomous vehicles can collect high resolution temporal and spatial multiparametric data throughout the water column, for extended periods of time in predefined areas. The acquisition of the two SeaExplorer gliders at the end of 2015 was funded by KRIPIS-IO project of the General Secretariat of Research and Technology.
2015-2017, Integrated Monitoring Program for MSFD
2015-2017, Integrated Monitoring Program for MSFD
The POSEIDON’s moored buoys were extensively renewed and upgraded through the funding by EEA of an integrated marine monitoring program, aimed to facilitate the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), concerning the continuous monitoring and the evaluation of the environmental status in the marine areas under the jurisdiction of the Hellenic Republic. The acquisition of next generation physical and biochemical sensors, new processing units and telecommunication devices along with the relevant supporting hardware (hulls, solar panels, etc.) enhanced the durability and the performance of the mooring network.
2016, Member of the EMSO ERIC
2016, Member of the EMSO ERIC
Following the national funding for the implementation of the EMSO HELLAS initiative, HCMR has contributed to the establishment of the EMSO Research Infrastructure (Commission Implementing Decision 2016/1757/EU of September 29, 2016, and since then, it participates to the EMSO ERIC representing Greece as a full member.
2017, HIMIOFoTS national research infrastructure
2017, HIMIOFoTS national research infrastructure
HCMR is leading the implementation of the national scale Research Infrastructure, named HIMIOFoTS (Hellenic Integrated Marine Inland water Observing, Forecasting and offshore Technology System), funded by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology, which includes integrated approaches in Marine observation and forecasting systems, coastal monitoring and an innovative Hydro-Environmental Monitoring and information network.
2018, Cabled observatory
2018, Cabled observatory
The ocean cabled observatory is the latest addition to the POSEIDON observing facilities and it was deployed at the bottom of SE Ionian Sea (1560 m depth) off the Pylos coast in 2018. The seabed platform is connected to the Methoni land station with a 13Km length fiber-optic cable and carries sensors that can provide data for conductivity (salinity), sea temperature, sea level with tsunami detection capabilities, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, dissolved CO2, turbidity, pH, currents of the water column in a distance 300 m from the bottom, ambient noise recording with emphasis on the marine mammals acoustic/bioacoustics, seismic activity, magnetic and gravitational field.