Advancing QUality Assessment of Spatial Patterns and Ecosystem Characteristics through Technological Advancements – AQUASPECT

AQUASPECT addresses priority no. 1 "Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTO) at regional sub-basin scale" of the SBEP 2024 call. It covers three of its four subtopics: (i) existing data collection and representation, (ii) ecological modelling, and (iii) propose a new monitoring scheme with new or existing sensors. It targets a data-driven approach, combined with Artificial Intelligence tools, to better assess the state of coastal ecosystems and improve knowledge of ocean biological and biogeochemical processes occurring at regional scale. AQUASPECT is embedded in a dynamic network of projects related to instrument development, FAIR data flows, and Digital Twins, all in the service of the Mission "Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030". The project focuses on phyto- and zooplankton, which provides many services to humans, from carbon sequestration to sustaining fisheries, and is recognised as an Essential Ocean/Biodiversity Variable (EOV, EBV) and used for MSFD evaluations.
Specifically, the project will:
1. Complete the development of and bring to market a new in situ plankton imagery instrument (the UVP6m) involving Small and Midsize Enterprises. It will count particles from 10µm and identify organisms from 100µm, to complement the existing in situ imaging sensors including UVP6.
2. Augment existing monitoring efforts with these instruments to sample plankton at previously unattainable spatio-temporal resolutions, which will be relevant for policymakers and regional stakeholders. Sensors will be deployed in three contrasting subbasins (the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea, the eutrophic North Sea and the low salinity Baltic Sea), at sites with extensive physical and biogeochemical sampling as well as existing or developing regional DTOs.
3. Integrate the resulting large datasets of EBVs and concomitant environmental data into European data infrastructures, including EMODnet and the EDITO data lake, as well as the three regional DTOs. This will build on existing efforts to improve plankton data FAIRness through standard data formats and controlled vocabularies.
4. Provide more relevant information to stakeholders and the general public by exploiting these unprecedented datasets through the regional DTOs. Particular applications will focus on biodiversity hotspots and carbon export at submesoscale near a marine national park, ecosystem state indicators for the Marine Strategic Framework Directive, and effects of anoxia on local ecosystems and fisheries.