CALYPSO Seminar addresses Marine Safety
CALYPSO is a 2-year project which mainly targets to deliver a permanent and fully operational HF radar observing system, capable of recording (in real-time with hourly updates) surface currents in the Malta Channel. The system consists of HF radar installations on the northern Malta/Gozo and southern Sicilian shores at selected sites and a combine station to elaborate and publish data to users. The project is partly financed by the EU under the Operational Programme Italia-Malta 2007-2013, and co-ordinated by Prof. Aldo Drago from the Physical Oceanography Unit of the University of Malta. The project is based on a close cooperation between 4 partners from Malta - namely University of Malta, Transport Malta, Civil Protection Department and Armed Forces of Malta – and four partners from Sicily – ARPA Sicilia, IAMC-CNR Capo Granitola, Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) and Università di Catania (CUTGANA). Besides partners the project involves such stakeholders as Legambiente, Regione Siciliana Protezione Civile and Guardia Costiera.
Calypso is not just another project that aims to collect data for academic purposes. Its main target is to support efficient response against marine oil spills in the Malta-Sicily Channel. This stretch of sea channel is potentially vulnerable to oil spills, being one of the busiest areas of maritime transportation in the Mediterranean which accounts for around twenty percent of the world’s oil tanker traffic. An oil spill accident may cause a devastating damage to a small island state like Malta where economic assets and areas of touristic attraction are concentrated in space. Malta’s water desalinization plants are among the most vulnerable to oil spill objects since they provide the country’s major source of fresh water.
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Mapping of surface currents by CALYPSO HF radars |
SeaSonde compact HF radars designed by CODAR Ocean Sensors to be used in CALYPSO |
With the support of numerical modelling applications, the information from the HF radar monitoring system can significantly minimize these risks. Bringing together research entities, public entities with responsibilities for civil and environmental protection, security and response to hazards, and using best tools for surveillance and operational monitoring against pollution threats, CALYPSO can support the efficient response in case of an oil spill emergency at sea. In combination with Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) applications the information can be used to back-track the origin of spills and provide evidence to identify the source of the pollution.
The project started in April 2011 and is now coming to its most important stage, namely the HF radar installation, calibration and validation. CODAR Ocean Sensors was selected as the radar system provider. CODAR Ocean Sensors' patented technologies, including its processing algorithms, allow the HF radars to produce extremely accurate 2-D surface current velocity maps and measures the most important wave parameters.
Various aspects of the HR radar monitoring system were discussed during project meetings between partners and stakeholders as well as at the seminar that took place on 28th May in Malta. The public seminar addressed the importance of technologies currently available and of HF radar in particular to the benefit of the monitoring and surveillance of trans-boundary maritime space separating Malta and Sicily. Presentations of the key speakers covered various aspects of oil spills monitoring, search and rescue, environmental and civil protection in case of emergency at sea, and the aspects of cooperation with other countries and related projects.
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Oil spill modelling in the area of Maltese Islands, |
Opening panel at the CALYPSO seminar on 28th May 2012 |
Aldo Drago opened the seminar and presented the scope and progress of implementation of the CALYPSO project. The Programme Officer for the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre, Gabino Gonzalez, referred to the 193 oil fields currently in production on the perimeter of the Mediterranean. He also explained why operational forecasting models are important for a quick response to oil spills. Pierre Marie Poulain from the Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale of Trieste, and Fulvio Capodici from the University of Palermo spoke of monitoring and observation technologies such as drifters, floats and gliders and remote-sensing platforms. Andria Karaolia, Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus, introduced the MEDESS4MS project and described the Mediterranean decision support service for oil spills that the project promises to deliver. She also spoke about several types of oil spill models such as MOTHY, MEDSLIK and POSEIDON and the area of their application. Captain Paolo Cafaro from Guardia Costiera and Captain Marvin Mangion from the Armed Forces of Malta described search and rescue procedures at sea.
All these aspects, highlighted during the seminar, delivered to the public a very important message: operational forecasting and oil spill modelling are crucial for planning an efficient response to maritime emergencies, however, these models need to be supplied by high-quality real-time data from observations, and that is what CALYPSO is targeting to provide. Moreover the collaboration and coordination between responsible entities at national and international scale are essential to ensure timely and effective interventions especially in cases of larger incidents.
CALYPSO is endeavouring to strengthen the bi-lateral cooperation between Maltese and Sicilian responsible entities. A Memorandum of Understanding between parties will facilitate procedures and responsibilities in case of oil spill responses and search-and-rescue activities.
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