CTE - TOSCA project
Programme: MED
Project Title: Tracking Oil Spills and Coastal Awareness Network
Acronym: TOSCA
Duration: 2010-2013
Total Budget : € 2.345.000,00
Web site: www.tosca-med.eu and tosca.ismar.cnr.it
Summary: 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.
Contact person in ISMAR: anna.vetrano@sp.ismar.cnr.it
Partnership:
· PACA Sea Innovation & Business Cluster - Toulon Var Technologies (PMP-TVT) – Francia, Capo di Fila
· Laboratory LSEET – Toulon University (LSEET) – Francia, Scientific Coordinator
· Prefettura del Mediterraneo (PREMAR MED) - Francia
· Università dell’Egeo (UAEGEAN) - Grecia
· Istituto dei Sistemi di Accelerazione e Applicazione. Università di Atene (IASA-UAT) – Grecia
· Region of East Macedonia and Thrace (REMTH) - Grecia
· Technicological Institute of Education of Piraeus (Tei Piraeus) - Grecia
· Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali - Università “Parthenope” (DISAM) - Italia
· Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Applicata (OGS) - Italia
· CNR - ISMAR - Italia
· Università delle Isole Baleari - Istituto Mediterraneo di studi avanzati (IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC)) - Spagna
· Istituto di Scienze del Mare (ICM-CSIC) - Spagna
