First MyOcean User Workshop 7-8 April 2011, Stockholm Main outcomes May, 9th 2011 1. Objectives of the MyOcean User Workshop The 1 st MyOcean User Workshop took place on 7-8 April 2011, about two years after the beginning of the MyOcean project, and three months after the availability of the version 1 of the MyOcean service. This Workshop was also organised about 5 years after the EC GMES Marine Service Workshop (November 2005), which could symbolise the launch date for the definition of this GMES Service. The main objectives of this User Workshop were: To present the status of the Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting Component of the GMES Marine Service about five years after its preliminary definition; To collect user feedbacks about the MyOcean service currently available in order to guide its improvement; To discuss the possible actions to improve the user uptake and to foster the development of value-added information and services based on MyOcean. 2. Agenda of the Workshop The Workshop agenda was structured in three main parts: A first plenary session, including presentations about expectations from, and guidelines for, the GMES Marine Service implementation (given by the EC GMES Bureau and the Marine Core Service Implementation Group), the MyOcean response to these requirements, as well as highlights about the assessment of the marine and coastal environment in Europe (given by EEA); Splinter sessions (half-day) gathering the four main user communities of MyOcean, i.e. Maritime Safety, Marine and Coastal Environment, Marine Resources and Weather, Seasonal Forecasting and Climate. Each splinter included presentations of user testimonies, and discussions about the possible improvements for products, information on and access to these products, best practices for the MyOcean user community, and the approach for the evolution of the service. A second plenary session, including the reports of the splinter sessions that took place the previous afternoon, and a round table discussion. This round table, introduced by a presentation on the MyOcean user approach, gathered the main European stakeholders of the GMES Marine Service, and also allowed exchanges with the audience. It aimed to addressing two main issues: (i) the interest and benefit of a single Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting service in the GMES framework and (ii) the best approaches for improving and stimulating the user uptake of this GMES service. All the presentations given during the Workshop (including splinter sessions) are available at First MyOcean User Workshop. 1
3. Participants to the Workshop The MyOcean User Workshop gathered 102 participants from 26 countries (EU and others), including 37 currently using the MyOcean Service, 12 experts nominated by their national GMES Committee representatives, 21 from GMES stakeholders (EEA, EMSA, ECMWF, EUMETSAT, ESA, EuroGOOS,.) and 32 representing the MyOcean consortium. 30% of participants were involved in Maritime Safety session, 28% in Marine and Coastal Environment, 13% in Marine Resources and 29% Weather, Seasonal Forecasting and Climate ones. 4. Current status of the MyOcean service and users In April 2011, i.e. more than 3 months after the launch of the MyOcean Service V1, 332 users from 44 (23 EU and 21 non-eu) countries are registered, with deliveries covering 100% of the catalogue. These users are mainly educational and research institutions, private companies, national meteorological and oceanographic services, and other international organisations. The user communities are mainly from the Maritime Safety, the Weather, Seasonal Forecasting and Climate and the Marine and Coastal Environment areas. The Marine Resources appears underrepresented (about 4% of the uses). Based on a survey achieved in March 2011, the user feedback on: The MyOcean Web Portal (single access point for the products and service) is intermediate between satisfied and unsatisfied : improvements are required for this function (see below); MyOcean products is positive (averaged mark on satisfied ), especially regarding the product quality and coverage (mark between satisfied and very satisfied ). 5. Main outcomes of the Workshop 5.1. General issues The interest for, and benefit of, a single Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting component of the GMES Marine Service was emphasised. More specifically, the concept of a single entry point to the service, with a real support to users, for accessing to a consistent range of products, is endorsed by the user community. The free at point of use and open data policy, as well as the high quality and reliability of the service, appear as key issues. They should allow economies of scale, and are a pre-requisite for an efficient development of downstream services. The downstream services should provide potential for the creation of new jobs which is one of the top priorities of the EU. The benefits of MyOcean are also substantial in terms of observation and software availability. These benefits require the sustainability of space and in-situ observation systems. MyOcean is an information provider to existing national systems, and should be restricted to a core service not replacing these national assets. The need for maintaining the partnership and cooperative expertise gained through the successive GMES projects was also emphasised. 2
The stabilisation in the long-term of the Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting service scope appeared as a key issue. This stable scope is in particular required for defining the borderline between the GMES core service component and the downstream services, since it will impact the investments and business models of the downstream sector. This requirement implies that the scope of this GMES Service component should be consolidated for e.g. the next 10 years. This clarification should also enable to define the scope of R&D activities linked to the core service evolution within the limits of its scope. The need for integration of atmospheric forcing products (including winds and waves) with the MyOcean products was stressed. It was confirmed that some application areas, e.g. maritime safety and marine and coastal environment, require current, wind and wave products. The options should be explored for (i) ensuring greater scientific coherence between the current MyOcean products and atmospheric forcing products by improved coupling of the forecasts (ii) facilitating consistent downstream use of the atmospheric and ocean products and (iii) better access to these products through coordinated dissemination channels. These issues should be explored with ECMWF and the meteorological agencies in collaboration with the new FP7 MyWave project. The improvement of user uptake, especially for the national institutions and the private sector, was considered as essential. For linking MyOcean with the national level and sharing best practices, it could be appropriate to establish national coordination entities, with the objective to better disseminate the MyOcean information at national level. EuroGOOS which is currently defining its future structure and its regional components (the ROOSes) could play a prominent role in these networking activities. The user fora and working groups already in place, e.g. through regional conventions, or linked to EEA and EMSA activities, could also serve as vectors for information on and promotion of MyOcean. A stronger involvement of private sector in the service uptake would benefit to MyOcean and its follow-on. It is recognized that the way of thinking of the private sector could inject some creativity in the MyOcean service content and provision. The promotion of MyOcean could refer to test cases and success stories. The response to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which is mainly handled by national Environment Ministries, could represent an important area for these test cases and success stories. It was also recognized that the optimisation of procedures and tools, e.g. for registration and viewing, should also stimulate the user uptake. 5.2. Specific issues MyOcean Products The main feedbacks and requirements included: - The importance of the quality (including bias, errors and information quality control), reliability and long-term sustainability of the products; 3
- As mentioned above, the need for consistency and improved access to both current MyOcean and atmospheric forcing products (including winds and waves); - The need for higher spatial/temporal resolution of products, e.g. for sea ice, pollution monitoring and vessel monitoring, as well as for coastal zone; this requirement could be satisfied by downstream services, depending on a stabilised borderline between the core and downstream services; - The importance for several application areas of long time series (multiple decades) availability, especially through reanalysis products and e.g. boundary conditions for hindcasts; - The need to improve the boundary conditions and to address consistently the interfaces between different regions, e.g. between Baltic and Northwest Shelf or North West Shelf and Iberian-Biscay-Irish areas. Information on products and service The main feedbacks and requirements included: - The importance of information on quality, e.g. through indices: the calibration / validation reports should be available to all; - The need for information on product updates (e.g. during transition between versions), which could impact downstream operational systems: a timely consultation in advance with the users regarding changes to products is required; - The usability of the web portal should be improved: a one-page overview with product by region presentation, showing the similarities between products, will be helpful more links to catalogue shall be available on web portal the data clicks should be on the first page viewing capabilities should be available, e.g. quick-looks of the ocean, including maxima/minima (like it was developed for Boss4GMES) - Information about software products considered as another product line is required. Access to the MyOcean products The main feedbacks and requirements highlighted: - The importance of the reliability in the delivery; - The need for a faster and easier registration process (current one is found cumbersome): a limited set of sample data should be made available for each product and accessible without registration; the time needed to get a password should be reduced; - The need to improve the file downloading The climate users need large datasets: the file size limitations should be reduced and the connection capacity improved. Best practices Several improvements were proposed, including: - The sharing of best practices on the use of MyOcean products for: The Marine Strategy Framework Directive The coastal model downscaling, through the gathering of coastal modelling groups and exchange of information - The implementation of a forum based on social networking tools (e.g. Facebook, Twitter or Wiki page) for operational oceanography: For sharing information, e.g. on existing downstream services For collaborative problem solving (e.g. Fukushima or Deepwater Horizon impacts) - The development and availability of a toolbox library, especially for the downstream sector; - The implementation of training activities; - A piggyback approach on existing workshops or courses; - The building of good use cases and success stories showing the value of MyOcean products up to the end users. 4
Evolution of the MyOcean service The need for a visibility of strategy and long-term commitments, as well as upstream communication of user needs and scientific plans, was emphasised. Moreover, the user feedback and requirement processes should be improved, with a stronger role given to the private sector, to ensure an effective collaboration with industry. In particular, the private sector could be more involved in the Core User Group process. Specific needs for evolution have been identified, including: - The continuous improvement of MFC analysis and forecast quality; - The improvement of biogeochemical modelling, considered as a top priority; - The need for higher spatial resolution of products in view of a proper development of nested, coastal and local models, depending on the scope of the core service; - The importance to focus the service on a limited number of variables, with emphasis on quality rather than quantity; - The availability of river discharge information and, if possible, of tidal level data; - The development and availability of a toolbox library, especially for the downstream sector; - The improvement of the Information System to access data in a seamless and rapid way with a particular attention to the automatic, operational access. 6. Conclusion The 1 st MyOcean User Workshop enabled intense and fruitful discussion about the current status of the MyOcean products and service and their possible improvement and evolution. The validity of the concept linked to a single Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting service was confirmed, with emphasis on the quality, reliability and long-term sustainability of the service. The user response to the MyOcean service already confirms the approach (a single core service for multiple uses) and acceptance by the four application domains identified by MyOcean, as well as the prominent position of this GMES service in the international arena. The implementation of proposed improvements to the products, the information on them and the access to them will be analysed by MyOcean. The user uptake should be improved, especially by fostering the links with national coordination level and the private sector. Specific activities and facilities should be implemented for this purpose. The MyOcean users will be kept informed about the actions to be proposed, with a view to maintain a continuous dialogue with the user community between user workshops. The outcomes of the 1 st MyOcean User Workshop will feed the GMES User Forum process. 5