AUTHOR=Tintoré Joaquín , Pinardi Nadia , Álvarez-Fanjul Enrique , Aguiar Eva , Álvarez-Berastegui Diego , Bajo Marco , Balbin Rosa , Bozzano Roberto , Nardelli Bruno Buongiorno , Cardin Vanessa , Casas Benjamin , Charcos-Llorens Miguel , Chiggiato Jacopo , Clementi Emanuela , Coppini Giovanni , Coppola Laurent , Cossarini Gianpiero , Deidun Alan , Deudero Salud , D'Ortenzio Fabrizio , Drago Aldo , Drudi Massimiliano , El Serafy Ghada , Escudier Romain , Farcy Patrick , Federico Ivan , Fernández Juan Gabriel , Ferrarin Christian , Fossi Cristina , Frangoulis Constantin , Galgani Francois , Gana Slim , García Lafuente Jesús , Sotillo Marcos García , Garreau Pierre , Gertman Isaac , Gómez-Pujol Lluis , Grandi Alessandro , Hayes Daniel , Hernández-Lasheras Jaime , Herut Barak , Heslop Emma , Hilmi Karim , Juza Melanie , Kallos George , Korres Gerasimos , Lecci Rita , Lazzari Paolo , Lorente Pablo , Liubartseva Svitlana , Louanchi Ferial , Malacic Vlado , Mannarini Gianandrea , March David , Marullo Salvatore , Mauri Elena , Meszaros Lorinc , Mourre Baptiste , Mortier Laurent , Muñoz-Mas Cristian , Novellino Antonio , Obaton Dominique , Orfila Alejandro , Pascual Ananda , Pensieri Sara , Pérez Gómez Begoña , Pérez Rubio Susana , Perivoliotis Leonidas , Petihakis George , de la Villéon Loic Petit , Pistoia Jenny , Poulain Pierre-Marie , Pouliquen Sylvie , Prieto Laura , Raimbault Patrick , Reglero Patricia , Reyes Emma , Rotllan Paz , Ruiz Simón , Ruiz Javier , Ruiz Inmaculada , Ruiz-Orejón Luis Francisco , Salihoglu Baris , Salon Stefano , Sammartino Simone , Sánchez Arcilla Agustín , Sánchez-Román Antonio , Sannino Gianmaria , Santoleri Rosalia , Sardá Rafael , Schroeder Katrin , Simoncelli Simona , Sofianos Sarantis , Sylaios Georgios , Tanhua Toste , Teruzzi Anna , Testor Pierre , Tezcan Devrim , Torner Marc , Trotta Francesco , Umgiesser Georg , von Schuckmann Karina , Verri Giorgia , Vilibic Ivica , Yucel Mustafa , Zavatarelli Marco , Zodiatis George TITLE=Challenges for Sustained Observing and Forecasting Systems in the Mediterranean Sea JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2019 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00568 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2019.00568 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=

The Mediterranean community represented in this paper is the result of more than 30 years of EU and nationally funded coordination, which has led to key contributions in science concepts and operational initiatives. Together with the establishment of operational services, the community has coordinated with universities, research centers, research infrastructures and private companies to implement advanced multi-platform and integrated observing and forecasting systems that facilitate the advancement of operational services, scientific achievements and mission-oriented innovation. Thus, the community can respond to societal challenges and stakeholders needs, developing a variety of fit-for-purpose services such as the Copernicus Marine Service. The combination of state-of-the-art observations and forecasting provides new opportunities for downstream services in response to the needs of the heavily populated Mediterranean coastal areas and to climate change. The challenge over the next decade is to sustain ocean observations within the research community, to monitor the variability at small scales, e.g., the mesoscale/submesoscale, to resolve the sub-basin/seasonal and inter-annual variability in the circulation, and thus establish the decadal variability, understand and correct the model-associated biases and to enhance model-data integration and ensemble forecasting for uncertainty estimation. Better knowledge and understanding of the level of Mediterranean variability will enable a subsequent evaluation of the impacts and mitigation of the effect of human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and the ecosystem, which will support environmental assessments and decisions. Further challenges include extending the science-based added-value products into societal relevant downstream services and engaging with communities to build initiatives that will contribute to the 2030 Agenda and more specifically to SDG14 and the UN's Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development, by this contributing to bridge the science-policy gap. The Mediterranean observing and forecasting capacity was built on the basis of community best practices in monitoring and modeling, and can serve as a basis for the development of an integrated global ocean observing system.