The Macaronesia Marine Maritime Observation Network (R3M) rolled out a new autonomous measuring device this week in the Cape Verde archipelago. It is an IMU oceanographic station (Integral Measurement Unit) that has been installed in Mindelo Bay (island of Sao Vicente). This was developed and brought on line by PLOCAN technical staff, with the collaboration of the National Fisheries Development Institute (INDP) as part of the ECOMARPORT project.

The IMU device, located in the Mindelo Yacht Marina facilities, comprises a specific array of cutting-edge oceanographic sensors aimed at continually measuring essential sea-water variables like temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and turbidity. The recorded data is made available every hour, along with the other data acquired by existing devices installed in the four archipelagos of Macaronesia, over the PLOCAN data portal that can be accessed from the web R3M.

The trip to Sao Vicente by the PLOCAN technical team enabled them to tackle maintenance tasks on other measuring devices that R3M already has set up in Cape Verde, such as the multi-parameter meteorological station in the INDP facilities in Mindelo, which has been in operation since 2015.

The ECOMARPORT Project is scheduled to tackle similar tasks in the coming months to enhance and extend the R3M’s observation capability in Madeira, Azores and the Canary Islands. The main objective of ECOMARPORT is to promote Marine-Maritime R+D+i in the European and African regions of Macaronesia by implementing an operational atmospheric and marine observation Network to monitor water and air quality in Macaronesia ports (Green ports) by developing and using sustainable, cutting-edge technology to generate products and tools of value for users as a whole, through co-operation and transferring the right, efficient technology among the public and private sector in the field of marine-maritime sciences and technologies, fostering business opportunities in the context of Blue Growth.

The ECOMARPORT Project is co-funded by the first call for projects of the INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal MACE (Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands) co-operation programme 2014-2020.