The Canary Islands location in the Central North Atlantic region, is a privileged position for observing the ocean processes of global interest and in particular for Europe, the long-term observation and its connection to the associated socio-economic processes. The processes in nature occur at different spatio-temporal scales. Oceans represent 70% of the planet's surface, so its influence on the global scale is critical, however, the level of knowledge and the observation capacity of the seas and oceans, although it has improved and increased substantially in the recent years, it continues to be insufficient. Therefore, the need to improve and extend the ocean's observation capacity and its contribution to global processes persists.

The PLOCAN observatory is a node of EMSO (European network of ocean-observation infrastructures) and concentrates a great observation capacity:
The management of the ocean-vehicles base (VIMAS)
The monitoring and continuous instrumentation of the test site (COASTAL Observatory)
The continuous deep-ocean observation for more than 20 years at the ESTOC station (OCEANIC Observatory)
The Macaronesian Marine-Maritime Network (R3M), with oceanographic stations and buoy systems (ODAS and SEAMON) for real-time measurements.
The Data Center.
They allow to focus, update and enhance the quality, quantity, projection and utility of an integrated observation infrastructure.

The oceanic node [ESTOC- European Station of the Temporary Oceanic Series of the Canary Islands] is located 60 nautical miles north of Gran Canaria and with a depth of 3670 meters. It has been operational since 1992 for the development of long-term meteorological and oceanographic time series in the Center-East of the North Atlantic. The deep observatory shares some facilities with coastal and extended observatories (eg surface vehicles, laboratories, e-infrastructure).