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MEDESS-4MS - Mediterranean decision support System for Marine Safety
REMPEC was involved in the three year project entitled “Mediterranean decision support System for Marine Safety – MEDESS-4MS”, which was approved within the framework of the project strategy of the European MED Programme. It started in February 2012 and officially closed in March 2015. The project had the seven (7) beneficiary countries, namely Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro and Spain. It was coordinated by the Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) of Cyprus, and implemented by institutional and response agencies such as REMPEC, and operational and forecasting centres based in the beneficiary countries.
The MEDESS-4MS Project was dedicated to the strengthening of maritime safety by mitigating the risks and impacts associated with oil spills and aimed at offering a comprehensive and integrated oil spill forecasting multi-model approach. In order to achieve this objective, meteorological and oceanographic data as well as data related to ship traffic, ship operations and sensitivity mapping were analysed and gathered under a common interface.
In this regard, a MEDESS-4MS User Interface integrates, through a unique portal, fourteen (14) ocean models, seven (7) wind models, seven (7) wave models and five (5) oil spill forecasting models.
To ensure the relevance and access to the tool, the project tested the service functionalities jointly during end-user meetings as well as real scale exercises entitled 'Serious Games'.
The project had been initiated through the Regional Workshop on Oil Spill Risk Assessment in the Mediterranean (MEDEXPOL 2011), organized by REMPEC and the Mediterranean Oil Industry Group (MOIG). The workshop provided a set of recommendations (see report) from country representatives and the oil industry, for the development of an oil spill risk assessment methodology for the Mediterranean Sea.
By integrating and consolidating the existing service chains, based on the experience of operational response agencies such as REMPEC, the project contributed and still contributes to the improvement of maritime risks prevention and maritime safety.
Amongst the deliverables of the project, a technical report describing the ship traffic analysis in the Mediterranean Sea was issued under the name of AIS Report.
More information on the project, including its deliverables, can be obtained on the MEDESS-4MS website, www.medess4ms.eu/.
Within the framework of the Work Package 4 entitled “Improving the evaluation and the monitoring of risks” of MEDESS-4MS Project, REMPEC overviewed the development of the Mediterranean Integrated Geographical Information System on Marine Pollution Risk Assessment and Response (MEDGIS-MAR), which is a decision support system designed to assist decision-makers in selecting the most appropriate measures based on socio-environmental data, while providing information of the oil spill response equipment. The tool is accessible through the following link: http://medgismar.rempec.org/