Dr Andrés Cianca represented the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) at the meeting of OceanSITES, a network of marine stations and observatories that measure oceanic parameters at all depths of the ocean, ranging from the sea surface to the sea floor. Where possible, automated systems equipped with advanced sensors and satellite communication systems are used, enabling the collection of data at high resolution, often in real time, to produce long time series. Observations include meteorological, physical oceanography and biogeochemical parameters, in addition to parameters related to the carbon cycle, ocean acidification, ecosystems and geophysics.
This year, Ocean SITES held its 11th steering committee meeting and its 8th data management team meeting at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, United Kingdom. There, PLOCAN presented the principal scientific achievements to have come out of observations made at the European Oceanic Time Series Station in the Canary Islands (ESTOC).
These observations currently fall within the work framework of a European project known as FixO3 (Fixed-point Open Ocean Observatories), which integrates the European network of deep ocean observatories. The objective of this event is to improve co-ordination and knowledge sharing between partners, as well as to seek to harmonise and standardise observations in order to facilitate access to the data for end users.
