CALYPSO-HF Radar Monitoring System and Response against Marine Oil Spills in the Malta Channel
The project brings together an 8-member partnership for the setting up of a permanent and fully operational HF radar observing system, capable of recording (in real-time with hourly updates) surface currents, winds and waves in the Malta Channel. The system consists of HF radar installations on the northern Malta and southern Sicilian shores at selected sites and combines stations to elaborate and publish data to users. Collected data, combined to numerical models, support applications to optimise intervention in case of oil spill response as well as endow tools for security,  safer navigation, improved metro-marine forecasts, monitoring of currents in critical areas such as ports, surveillance, search and rescue and better management of the marine space between Malta and Sicily. Through a network of stakeholders, including the participation of public authorities in the partnership, the project envisages the full exploitation of the HF radar system, and dedicates direct activities for the exchange of information, practices and the preparation of common protocols for collaborative surveillance and operational interventions in the case of accidents and emergencies between Maltese and Sicilian counterparts. The project shall also serve for capacity building in the monitoring of the coastal seas and adjoining resources. The routine acquisition of multi-disciplinary, spatially widespread, long-term data sets of the ocean and coastal seas is expected to trigger an unprecedented leap in the economic value of ocean data and information, and will additionally target multiple applications and users. The project puts Malta and Silicy at the forefront of such initiatives in the Mediterranean.