Blue-Cloud highlighted as a successful use case for the Copernicus WEkEO DIAS, enabling marine researchers to access, combine, and share quality environmental data
WEkEO is one of the 5 Copernicus DIAS (Data and Information Access Services), with a specific focus on environmental data, virtual processing environments and skilled user support.
Like the other DIAS, it enhances access to Copernicus data and information for further use in an efficient computing environment, implementing the paradigm of “bringing the user to the data”, as one condition for unlocking the potential value of Copernicus for innovation, science, new business, implementation of public policies and economic growth.
Strengthening Open Science for the ocean with Blue-Cloud services
Blue-Cloud was recently featured on the official WEkEO website as a successful example of “Collaborative Open Science platform for marine research”, particularly highlighting the innovation of the Data Discovery & Access Service, enabling access to more than 10 million datasets from Copernicus, EMODnet, SeaDataNet, Euro-Argo, ENA, EcoTaxa, SOCAT, ICOS, EurOBIS, via a single MarineID.
WEkEO also helps enhance the quality of the Blue-Cloud Virtual Research Environment and Virtual Labs in different ways, such as:
- Harmonised online access to the full WEkEO product catalogue
- Updates of products notified and promptly available for online access
- Integrated cost-effective data access and processing system
- Application scalability sustained by the WEkEO evolution
Studying the environmental quality of the ocean together
Specific WEkEO products are then exploited especially in the Marine Environmental Indicators Virtual Lab, which provides an analytics service to support monitoring and management activities for the marine environment on a regional scale, starting from the Mediterranean Sea.
Current implementation of the VLab service provides a web user interface with flexible capacity to analyse the marine data with several available algorithms. Innovative solutions based on Machine Learning and Big Data methodology are exploited to assess the quality of the marine characteristics and identify patterns or trends for the early warning of undesired conditions.
The VLab exploits relevant input data from the WEkEO catalogue of products, including:
- Mediterranean Sea Physics Reanalysis
- Global Ocean Physics Reanalysis
- ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1959 to present
Future developments of the VLab will enhance the exploitation of WEkEO and allow scaling up of the analysis to the global ocean with also the addition of new input variables.
Users can already test this Virtual Lab and perform their research, providing feedback and input for its future development.
