Underwater and surface marine autonomous systems (MAS), especially underwater gliders, have been pivotal in supporting environmental observations and blue economy activities since their emergence in the 2000s. These agile and cost-efficient vehicles can carry scientific payloads on the surface and at depths of up to 6,000 metres. To exploit the full benefits of these assets, their users and operators need to be supported by an infrastructure capable of delivering services that meet the broad spectrum of user requirements - from marine research and surveillance to utilities and industrial needs.
As the EU landscape is shifting towards more autonomy, MAS will, and already do in some cases, play a central role in the future of ocean observing. To ensure the massive uptake of MAS in Europe, GROOM RI will maintain a unique centralised provision of cyberinfrastructure, data and knowledge for the optimised use of MAS to study climate and marine environments, and to support operational services and the blue economy.
GROOM II overall objective is to design a sustainable European marine research infrastructure (RI), namely GROOM RI, which, through the services it provides, supports scientific research of excellence, supports operators of observation systems, encourages innovation and supports the blue economy by establishing public and industrial partnerships.
Objective 1 “GROOM RI is fit-for-purpose” concerns the coordination of MAS activities with organisations and other entities at European and global level, ensuring the coordination of research and observation activities, and the provision of the necessary services tailored to the needs of all organisations operating MAS directly or which activity depends directly on MAS data.
Objective 2 “GROOM RI delivers high-performance services” concerns the development and supply of these services, which guarantee economies of scale and overall objectives that can only be achieved through the integration of these services, as well as the development and provision of access to all the numerous technological developments affecting the MAS sector in the coming years, so as to ensure that the activity of MAS users can evolve easily in the face of the wall of innovation.
Objective 3 “GROOM RI ensures high quality data production and good access to data” focuses on the role of GROOM RI in guaranteeing that the quality of the data obtained from the MAS is maintained and that it flows seamlessly into the ‘data lake’. This objective may seem implicit, but faced with the massive and very rapid transformation of the world of data in MS and in Europe, particularly its technical structuring and organisation, it is essential that GROOM RI can support its users to ensure that their data meets the required standards and that they can remain agile in the face of the challenges posed by these transformations.
