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 & nationally funded coordination that has led to key contributions in science concepts and operational initiatives. Together with the establishment of operational services, the community has been coordinating 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.
As a result, the community has been able to 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 climate change. 
The real challenge for the next decade is to sustain ocean observations within the research community, to monitor the variability at small scales, e.g. mesoscale/submesoscale, to resolve the sub-basin/seasonal and inter-annual variability of the circulation and by this 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 Mediterranean variability will enable subsequent evaluation of the impacts and mitigation of human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to underpin environmental assessments and decision support.
Furthermore, the challenges are to extend the science based added value products to societal relevant downstream services and engage the communities to build initiatives that will contribute to UN SDG14 and the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
The Mediterranean observing and forecasting capacity was built on the basis of community best practices in monitoring and modelling and could serve as basis for the development of the integrated global ocean observing system.