AtlantECO

Mission

The EU-funded AtlantECO project aims to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework that provides knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services. AtlantECO will engage with citizens and actors from the industry and policy sectors in order to stimulate responsible behaviour and Blue Growth. The project focuses on three pillars of research: microbiomes, plastic and the plastisphere, and seascape connectivity. In pursuit of this goal, AtlantECO is bringing together experts and pioneers from Europe, South America and South Africa with the relevant resources, knowledge and experience.

Expected Impact

Shape future international policies that can shape the Blue-Economy and have a worlwide positive impact in sustainability, social and economic levels, as well as consider different but complementary types of Blue data that will support the Blue Economy experts on their work. All continents are connected by the oceans, thus, it requires a global approach.

Collaboration with Blue-Cloud

• Connecting Data to key European Data Management service providers via Blue-Cloud: AtlantECO aims to use the Blue-Cloud DD&AS results to make the connection between imaging, genomics and environmental data, while running the AtlantECO data analysis pipelines and delivering the resulting data products for EMODnet (several EMODnet data infrastructures are involved in Blue-Cloud). Furthermore, AltantECO is significantly extending the relevant data available to Blue-Cloud and its demonstrators through its systematic and harmonised data management processes for its several cruises and sampling campaigns. Its newly collected data sets are populated into Blue Data Infrastructures such as EurOBIS and ELIXIR - ENA, by which these data become also part of the Blue-Cloud DD&AS offer. Blue-Cloud benefits from AtlantECO by accessing new data on microbiomes, the plastisphere and carbon fluxes that support ecosystems at basin, as well as from AtlantECO prediction of the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors on ecosystem status and dynamics and ES provision, identifying their drivers and role on tipping points, assessing their changes in recovery of ecosystem structures, functions and services, and developing eco-socio-economic models to predict future trajectories. These factors have a great impact in the Blue ecosystem and, therefore, have potential to be reflected on the numbers produced by Blue-Cloud Demonstrators.
• Contribution to Blue-Cloud Roadmap: The Atlantic marine ecosystems assessed by AltantECO have brought important inputs for the Blue-Cloud Roadmap, a document which considers the technical developments, market analysis and opportunities for exploitation of Blue-Cloud, while providing options that ensure sustainability of Blue-Cloud services and integration into the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) in the long term. Blue-Cloud roadmap also benefited from the strategy AtlantECO is delivering on capacity building and transfer of knowledge for a seamless engagement between science, industry, policy, and society. It has been  a relevant addition for Blue-Cloud Roadmap as  this project has partners not only from Europe but also from America and Africa, with inputs from experts from other continents.
• Joint dissemination/communication activities: Blue-Cloud and AtlantECO have supported the promotion of events and workshops to share the projects’ results and reach a broader community. 

In addition, AtlantECO has invited the Blue-Cloud project coordinator, Sara Pittonet to join the AtlantECO podcast series dedicating the episode on 23rd November to Blue-Cloud. 
 

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The AtlantECO podcast series

The EU-funded AtlantECO project (atlanteco.eu) aims to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework that provides knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services. The AtlantECO podcast is a science popularisation show, revolving around conversations between the host and a guest to discuss aspects of AtlantECO, a marine science project which focuses on the Atlantic Ocean.

 The 23rd of November episode of the AtlantECO podcast series was dedicated to Blue-Cloud.

 

Sara Pittonet Gaiarin, Trust-IT and coordinator of the Blue-Cloud project, told about the context, objectives and achievements of the project and providing some examples of applications developed exploiting the Blue-Cloud Open Science Platform. Such as  the Zoo & Phytoplankton Essential Ocean Variable products Virtual Lab that provides a description of the current state of plankton communities and that was used by an international team of scientists to develop a "Wildlife Tracker for Oceans" tool, dedicated to the real-time assessment of Marine Protected Areas - MPAs. Another example that was mentioned in the podcast is the pilot application that was awarded first prize at the Blue-Cloud Hackathon in February 2022, Sea Clearly, a tool based on an open-access modelling framework to track particles to hack the origin of microplastics that reach aquaculture cages using the the location of the aquaculture farms provided by the Blue-Cloud Aquaculture monitor and provide recommendations for where to place aquaculture cages to decrease the probability of pollutants reaching them.

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Download the synergy factsheet