OBSERVER: The Copernicus Marine Service supports the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

OBSERVER: The Copernicus Marine Service supports the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

OBSERVER: The Copernicus Marine Service supports the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)CSO Tanya Walker
Thu, 08/07/2021 – 11:36

The EU is a global leader in international ocean governance with a framework founded on strategies, directives and programmes that actively contribute to the improvement of the sustainable use of oceans, safety and security at sea and environmental health. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)  is one of the EU directives that acts as a driver to implement local and pan-European solutions supporting conservation and  restoration of ocean health, mainly dealing with anthropogenic pollution and natural degradation due to climate change, and fostering  collection and reporting of  ocean data and information related to ocean health in EU waters.

The Copernicus Marine Service, a user-driven service, is continuously evolving to better support Member States in the implementation of the MSFD. The Copernicus Marine Service has implemented feedback systems designed to understand what ocean data and operational services are required by Member States and reporting institutions to implement the MSFD.

EU directives: a driver for Ocean Data and Information

The  MSFD (adopted in June 2008) is the environmental pillar of the Integrated Maritime Policy, which seeks to provide a more coherent and holistic approach to marine and maritime issues and promotes increased coordination between different policy areas and actors. 

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was put in place to protect the marine ecosystems and biodiversity upon which our health and marine-related economic and social activities depend, and to help EU countries achieve a good environmental status (GES). It set standards, based on a set of 11 indicators, to monitor the health of marine environments in order to regulate issues such as marine pollution and ensuing consequences, including eutrophication which can wreak havoc on coastal regions. The MSFD fosters long-term policy-action to mitigate and prevent further environmental damage.

The European Commission also produced a set of detailed criteria and methodological standards to help Member States implement the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which were revised in 2017, leading to the new Commission Decision on Good Environmental Status.

Public authorities and reporting bodies (such as governments of EU Member States, and regional organisations like HELCOM, OSPAR, ICES, and Convention of Barcelona) must implement the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Eleven descriptors to achieve marine good environmental status

Every Member State and reporting body must draw up a specific Marine Strategy for their respective marine territory. Such a strategy must be based on eleven descriptors (figure1) defined by the European Commission. On this basis, Member States and reporting bodies define objectives and indicators to achieve a good environmental status. The MSFD’s eleven descriptors are defined to ensure that biological diversity is maintained, that the quality and occurrence of habitats, as well as the distribution and abundance of species, are in line with prevailing physiographic, geographic and climatic conditions. 
 

Figure 1: The 11 Descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

A Joint Copernicus Marine – EMODnet catalogue to support the implementation of MSFD

The Commission runs two programmes that directly support the implementation of the MSFD: the Copernicus Marine Service, part of the Copernicus programme, a component of the EU Space Programme dealing with space-based Earth observation data and added-value public information services; and the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), which aggregates existing in-situ ocean observations across Europe with the support of Member States, scientists and industry.

These two European services distribute their data and information openly and free-of-charge. They work together to support Member States and reporting bodies in the implementation of the MSFD. Their respective marine portfolios complement each other: EMODnet’s offer mainly focuses on in situ marine observations, while the Copernicus Marine Service distributes marine data products derived from satellite and numerical models, in addition to in situ technology.

In June 2021, the Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet released a joint data catalogue (figure 2) to support European Member States with the implementation of the MSFD and its   descriptors (except Descriptor 4) for the Baltic Sea. 
 

Figure2: Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet’s joint data catalogue in support of the MSFD

This catalogue, that will soon be extended to all European Seas, is available from both the Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet web portals in a PDF format (access here). 

It is important to note that in order to test the fit-for-purpose nature of this first initiative, further exchanges with EU Member States and with the European Environment Agency (EEA) will be encouraged.  Furthermore, in the future, such a joint portfolio could be extended to other European Directives, such as the Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Directive and the Bathing Water Directive.

Descriptor 1: Biological diversity and hydrodynamic conditions

The joint Copernicus Marine – EMODnet catalogue for MSFD includes products that support MSFD Descriptor 1 and the monitoring of the hydrodynamic conditions in the Baltic Sea over the last 25 years. For example, product 003_011  provides monthly mean sea water velocities at all depths over the last 25 years in the Baltic Sea (figure 3).  

 

 
Figure 3: Surface monthly mean velocity on Oct 2017 in the Baltic Sea (see here)

Descriptor 5: Eutrophication

The joint catalogue also provides marine data to support the monitoring of the MSFD Descriptor 5 regarding Eutrophication. For example, the Copernicus Marine Service distributes high-resolution Sentinel-2 ocean colour data (100 m × 100 m) with parameters such as turbidity, chlorophyll and suspended particulate matter for coastal waters 20km off the shoreline for European seas (Figure 4).
 

Figure 4 : Copernicus Marine Sentinel-2 daily turbidity in the Baltic Sea on Apr11 2021 (see here). 

Moreover, the Copernicus Marine Service has recently released a new indicator dataset derived from satellite observations of chlorophyll concentrations in Atlantic sea water. The new Atlantic indicator for eutrophic and oligotrophic state monitoring (Figure 5) supports a series of European directives, including the MSFD. This new indicator, provided annually, helps monitor coastal water quality in relation to water pollution, notably from agricultural run-off of nutrients (found in fertilisers) that can cause eutrophication and result in marine die-off events. Eutrophic states occur when water is excessively rich in nutrients, owing to phosphorus and nitrogen run-off from agricultural or industrial activity, which fosters damagingly high levels of algae. The opposite issue is oligotrophication (a lack of oxygen and other limited resources), which can result in a decrease of aquatic plants, thus reducing the capacity of the ecosystem to sustain higher organisms.

 These data can then be used to determine the long-term health of waters in specific regions. For a region to be officially considered in a state of Eutrophication, it must meet several criteria, including showing a eutrophic state over the course of several consecutive years. Even small changes in Eutrophic levels can have strong long-term impacts on water quality. 
Find out more about this new indicator in the  May 2021 Ocean Monitoring Indicator (OMI) release which  included many other  products used to measure water quality.
 

Figure 5: Copernicus Marine 2019 Eutrophic state indicator. The image above displays annual information on eutrophic and oligotrophic conditions. These do not indicate whether the region is official considered in a state of eutrophication or oligotrophication as this is classification is determined based on the state over a period of several consecutive years; even small annual changes in the state can result in strong longer-term impacts.

Other examples of the use of Copernicus Marine Service data to support the implementation of descriptor 5 in different European Sea basins include:
•    https://marine.copernicus.eu/services/use-cases/msfd-eutro-satellite-based-service-support-msfd
•    https://marine.copernicus.eu/services/use-cases/supporting-msfd-directive-black-sea
•    https://marine.copernicus.eu/services/use-cases/chlo4msfd-web-portal-service-support-msfd

Descriptor 10: Marine Litter

The MFSD requires that in European Member States’ waters “properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment”. Downstream marine litter tracking services can be built upon Copernicus Marine Service products using variables such as ocean velocity.
For example, Copernicus Marine data was use to model plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. More than 10 billion virtual particles were tracked in order to understand the transport and fate of plastic marine debris in the Mediterranean Sea, in three areas: the sea surface, the coastlines and the sea bottom. 

Descriptor 11: Underwater noise

Data from the Copernicus Marine Service can also be relevant for MSFD Descriptor 11. For example, ocean temperature, salinity and velocity products are used in the Quonops© Online Service which provides noise monitoring and prediction tools, including an estimate of the spatio-temporal distribution of noise levels generated by human activities at sea and the source of contributions to the global noise field.  

It provides real-time noise and monthly statistical noise maps from shipping. It also allows to map scenarios of noisy activities at sea in order to predict their impact. The outputs are tailored to the requirements of regulations such as the EU MSFD directive. Quonops was developed by Quiet Oceans, a private French company and leader in passive acoustics and underwater noise prediction, monitoring and risk mitigation.

Thu, 08/07/2021 – 12:00