iFADO

The iFADO project combines state-of-the-art technologies together with traditional monitoring campaigns and cruises to provide sound scientific knowledge, while developing better predictive and risk assessment capabilities that can efficiently serve regional and national administrations to evaluate their waters status from coastal to deep sea environments, including the outermost regions. iFADO shall include combination of the following technologies and data sources: • Ocean gliders as autonomous mobile platforms; • Satellite imagery from several sources including new products from Sentinels 1, 2, and 3; • Ocean time-series stations from the FP7 Fixo3 project; • Transnational cruises as the Atlantic Meridional Transect; • Numerical Modelling to create products already needed by the MSFD and shortly required by the emerging marine economy; • Other existing sources of information such as ARGO floats or ships of opportunity. The project shall contribute to the Priority 2 of the Atlantic Action Plan by identifying and monitoring the impacts of global climate change and will reduce MSFD implementation costs by stimulating coordinated monitoring procedures and strategies. Numerical models developed by different partners shall be compared in overlapping areas such as to provide contrasted indicators for each Member State and for the EAR as a whole.
The North Atlantic region shall have for the first time a forum where to discuss technical issues related to the MSFD implementation.