Infrastructure development for supporting Blue Growth in the North Aegean: AEGIS Coastal Environmental Observatory

Brief Description

This project was funded by the North Aegean Region in the framework of the "North Aegean 2014-2020 Operational Programme" and aimed to boosting the capacity of the Department of Marine Sciences to support Blue Growth in the North Aegean via the development of the Coastal Environmental Observatory AEGIS, in accordance to the Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). The Observatory provides high-quality services like:

• Support for the development and operation of diving centres and submarine tourist routes.

• Support for the submission process for declaration of local marine produce as Products of Designation of Origin or Protected Geographical Indication.

• Direct intervention in coastal environmental crises (such as toxic algal blooms, monitoring of natural disasters, etc.)

• Provision of environmental monitoring and environmental footprint assessment services, as well as coastal environmental impact assessment services, as required by the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) and national (i.e. SGN 3983/2011) legislation.

• Provision of high-quality operational forecasts of the marine conditions (temperature, salinity, currents) for the public through the web-page of the Department of Marine Sciences and  the Poseidon System (HCMR).

• Support for infrastructure planning studies (for example dams, coastal defense constructions).

• Contribution to Civil Protection in emergencies (as in floods).

• Contribution to actions for  coastal protection from pollution, as well as Search and Rescue operations.

Funding

Τhe project "Infrastructure development for supporting Blue Growth in the North Aegean: AEGIS Coastal Environmental Observatory", was funded by the North Aegean Prefecture through contract MIS 5021550 of the Operational Programme «North Aegean 2014-2020»

Components

• Mobile Observatory consisting of a mobile laboratory in a specially-equipped van for the preliminary processing, conservation and safe transport of field samples, a inflatable sppedboat and the necessary equipment for fast responding to requests for field sampling (for example for mapping tourist diving routes) throughout the North Aegean Sea.

• Remote Sensing - Beach Protection. A complementing component to the mobile observatory, aims to the analysis and use of information from Earth-Observaing satellites, autonomous aerial vehicles (drones) and land-based networks of high-resolution observation of coastal morphdynamics and hydrodynamics, producing in short term information of large spatial coverage, thus reductng effort and cost of future environmental impact assessment studies required by the related legislation (e.g. E.U. Directive 2014/52/ΕC).

• Data Quality Assurance and Control Laboratory. Complements older DMS infrastructures for the support of field studies and the production og high-quality reference measurements, enabling the monitoring of important Climate Change-related variability, such as marine and coastal acidification.

• Infrastructure of Continuous Monitoring. Consists of a mobile environmental observatory consisting of an array of sensors providing in real time continuous oceanographic, meteorological and environmental (e.g. radiological) information to the public. The array consists of a mooring, currently deployed in the center of Kalloni Gulf (which may be moved upon request) and two sea-level gauges at Kalloni and Gera bays.

• Marine conditions and circulation forecasting. Based on the current DMS knowhow in marine simulations, high-quality operational forecasting of coastal conditions will be offered. Tools for the assessment of the dispersion of pollutants or floating materias will be provided for the support of coastal pollution protection, search and rescue operations, etc..

• Communication and Training Office. The communication of the AEGIS Observatory with the public and organizations will take placve through a specialized structure for the interaction with potential users and the conversion of the provided products and services to meet user needs. 

Implementation

The AEGIS project is currently implemented, as the material equipment provisions are being completed and the personnel selection process finalized. Most of the instruments have been acquired and we are progressing now to the stage of developing operation and quality control protocolls. Below, some pictures of the new equipment are provided:

Installation of sea-level gauge at Skala Kallonis

Sea-level Gauge at Skala Sykountas (Dipi)

Gulf of Kalloni mooring deployment