On Friday 27 January, EMSO ERIC had its launch-event at the Italian Association Stampa Estera in Rome.
The EMSO ERIC, European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water Column Observatory – European Research Infrastructure Consortium has been created by eight countries: France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Spain with its headquarters in Rome. The aim of the Consortium is to actively promote the European scientific research of the marine environment, under the aegis of the European Commission. INGV, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology is the leading partner of the consortium for Italy.
The infrastructure managed by the European consortium has a continental scale, and consists of long-term high-resolution observation systems with practically real-time monitoring. It is composed of 11 underwater observatories, set up at great depths, that provide large data flows, and 4 test sites in shallow waters that are monitoring the environmental processes affecting the geosphere, the biosphere and hydrosphere and their interactions. The sites are located in key spots, from the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, thus forming a European large scale infrastructure to the benefit of the international scientific community. This system allows to collect valuable data on natural hazards, climate change and marine ecosystems.