28/02/2006

Entering its second operational phase, POSEIDON -the sea condition forecasting system in the Aegean- is being upgraded and reinforced. After several years of successful operation in the Aegean, the POSEIDON system's coverage will be expanded to include the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

As announced by the Ministry of Development and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, the new POSEIDON II programme will experimentally include the observation of tsunami waves. The announcement was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on 25/01/06. Expanding and upgrading the activities of the POSEIDON system, will also activate cooperation with NASA scientists on subjects related to the parameters of remote-satellite surveying in order to properly approach the forecasting models. It is noted that the POSEIDON is the only network in operation for the forecasting for the sea's condition in the Mediterranean - a fact that promotes Greece's leading position concerning marine technology and its application.

The POSEIDON II system is an extension and an upgrade of the POSEIDON I system, which, up until today, covered the Aegean Sea regarding weather forecasting models, wave height, surface currents, water quality etc. The objective of this extension is the general upgrading of the entire system, with the addition of 5 new floating oceanographic measuring stations in the regions of the Ionian and Cretan Sea, so that Greece can gain operational control in the entire sea area of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The cost of this extension amounts to approximately 9 million euro, of which 75% are a grant/participation from the financing mechanism of the EFTA economic area, the remaining 25% is provided by Public Investments.

The expected benefits from upgrading and extending the POSEIDON system are, among others, a reinforcement of national security, the provision of data and information on the prevailing real-time condition of the sea (hydrodynamical, chemical, biological and physical), as well as the provision of reliable short-term and long-term forecasting on the condition of the sea, safe shipping, the protection of the marine ecosystem, and improved management of environmental disasters, the development of fishing and the creation of new jobs.

It is worth noting that lately, the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research has been participating in important research and applications of marine science through programmes of the European Union as well as the Operational Programme "Competitiveness". The "ESPEN" programme, which is funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, is developing a National Wave Forecasting System for the Greek Seas to cover the needs of Greek shipping (programme budget approximately EUR 3 million). Further, under a separate funding programme by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, the first marine sensor for radioactivity measurement was constructed; the sensor was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency last December.

Source: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research