CTE progetto TOSCA
Program: MED
Project title: Tracking Oil Spills and Coastal Awareness Network
Acronym: TOSCA
Duration: 2010-2013
Total budget: € 2.345.000
Web Site: www.tosca-med.eu and tosca.ismar.cnr.it
Abstract: Lethal effects of mineral oils on fragile marine & local coastal ecosystems aren't to be any more demonstrated. The increasing importance of East Mediterranean ports & the higher traffic densities concentrated around Western & Central Mediterranean ports, will abruptly rise the risk of a high polluting marine accident, needing the strengthening of the coastal monitoring. The core objective of TOSCA is to improve the quality, speed & effectiveness of decision-making process in case of marine accidents (oil pollution, SAR Operations), by the development & implementation of technical & decision support tools, through active participation of scientists, in conjunction with local authorities. The novelty of TOSCA is to implement an integrated & scientific sustainable monitoring/forecasting design based on state of the art technology that will be implemented at the territorial scale & for local needs through the following steps: - analysis of past dramatic events & state-of-the art in terms of methodologies, instruments & response plans, - setting-up of an observational network based on HF radar & drifters providing direct information on ocean currents, coupled with other instruments & models, - assessment of the system considering different case scenarios. The network information will be used to implement a common scientific strategy in cooperation with policy makers, to improve the efficiency of action plans in case of marine accident & to create synergies between authorities, regulators, end users & scientists.
ISMAR contact: anna.vetrano@sp.ismar.cnr.it
Partners:
- PACA Sea Innovation & Business Cluster - Toulon Var Technologies (PMP-TVT) – France, Project Leader
- Laboratory LSEET – Toulon University (LSEET) – France, Scientific Coordinator
- Prefecture of the Mediterranean sea (PREMAR MED) - France
- University of Aegean (UAEGEAN) - Department of Marine Sciences - Greece
- Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications - Athens University (IASA-UAT) – Greece
- Region of East Macedonia and Thrace (REMTH) - Greece
- Technicological Institute of Education of Piraeus (Tei Piraeus) - Greece
- Department of Envirnomental Science - “Parthenope” University (DISAM) - Italy
- National Insitute of di Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) - Italy
- CNR - ISMAR - Italy
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies - Balearic Islands University (IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC)) - Spain
- Marine Science Institute (ICM-CSIC) - Spain
