The UK’s National Partnership for Ocean Prediction was launched at the inaugural workshop in Bristol on 26 April 2016 and will be presented at the EuroGOOS booth at the European Maritime Day in Turku.
This collaboration initiative brings together the leading UK marine science and oceanographic organizations, Met Office, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (Cefas), National Oceanography Centre (NOC), and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML).
The National Partnership for Ocean Prediction aims at improving our understanding of the marine environment and how it affects us. Top researchers will work together to help boost our knowledge and prediction of in the areas of fisheries, safety at sea, maritime operations, marine renewable energy, and coastal flood warning, contributing to achieving Good Environmental Status. Based on this world-leading marine products and services will be developed and promoted, in partnership with stakeholders to understand their requirements. The National Partnership for Ocean Prediction is “creating a hub for integrating ocean observations and models to provide high-quality information about the marine environment”, said Prof. Stephen de Mora, Chair of the Partnership’s Governing Board and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML).
“This partnership is a demonstration of the fundamental role that oceans play in the weather and climate system from local to global scales. It is critically important that the Met Office models, which we use to predict weather and climate risk, represent the fundamental role that the ocean places across time and space scales” said Prof. Dame Julia Slingo OBE FRS, the Met Office Chief Scientist.
Prof. Stuart Rogers, Chief Scientist at Cefas, welcomed the Partnership as a timely initiative that “brings together the UK marine observing, modelling and forecasting communities.”
“I am very pleased that the National Oceanography Centre is contributing to the National Partnership for Ocean Prediction”, said Prof. Ed Hill OBE, the Executive Director of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). “Ocean predictions are one of the central means by which the understanding of ocean processes is translated into practical scientific benefit for society”.
