Definition and development of a distributed observing system for the acquisition of marine environmental data through the integration of traditional observing platforms with innovative sensors (Product 1.2, Product 1.3), satellite monitoring systems (Product 1.7), autonomous multi-parameter stations (Product 1.1) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
The autonomous underwater vehicles integrated into the system will be equipped with biochemical sensors and their missions will be guided by predictive models of the sea-state and by adaptive sampling strategies in order to optimize the effectiveness of the environmental measures (Product 1.8). A traditional fixed observing platform (e.g. meda, wired observatory) will be equipped with a docking station capable of hosting one or more AUVs. The AUVs will be used for acquiring data in predetermined areas with the aim of extending the monitored area of the fixed observing platform. The data acquisition missions performed by the vehicles will be supported by predictive models of the sea state. Furthermore, the data sampling during the missions will be guided by adaptive strategies (Product 1.8) aimed at maximizing the representativeness of the acquired data, minimizing the number of measurements taken. In order to extend the monitoring area of the observation platform, one or more intelligent stand-alone station (Product 1.1) will be deployed in areas of interest, able to acquire multi-parameter environmental data, process them on-board in order to extract relevant information and consequently adapt its behavior (e.g. triggering of sensors, increase/decrease of the acquisition frequency) according to the observed environmental phenomena. Autonomous vehicles, during monitoring missions, will be able to reach the autonomous stations in order to download the relevant acquired data and to transfer them via the docking station to a landstation. Temperature will be made available to the application devoted to the retrieval of these two environmental variables (product 1.7) to enable its incremental learning capacities. The data acquired by the integrated observing system will be conveyed via the observing platform (e.g. meda, wired observatory) to a ground station that will make them available to stakeholders via metadata and interoperability techniques. Additionally, these platforms can be endowed with biomaterials and/or other biocompatible technologies for protection and recovery of ecosystems.