MarinEye - A prototype for multitrophic oceanic monitoring

The goal of MarinEye is to develop an innovative multitrophic autonomous system with adequate sensors and sufficient autonomy and robustness to improve the integrated physical-chemical and biological monitoring of the marine environment. The MarinEye is expected to provide information that could not be obtained by satellites or aircrafts, by increasing the monitoring capacities of vessels, AUVs, oceanic and coastal platforms (fixed or mobile), and observatories. Furthermore, this system will contribute to the assessment of the national marine environmental status of coastal waters and remote oceanic areas (e.g. deep sea ecosystems). When operational, the multitrophic autonomous system will be installed and used in several marine observatories, namely the Cascais Watch station (in a coastal upwelling area, http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/plankton/time-series/site__iberian-portugal-cascais/), the Berlengas Watch station (in a marine protected area), in the platform buoys of the RAIA oceanic observatory (offshore the North West Iberian Atlantic margin). Once operational, the data collected by the MarinEye system will be disseminated through the National Information Sharing Environment (NISE), contributing to the Integrated Maritime Surveillance and Monitoring (NIPIM@R).