INSEA

InSEA Project, lasting 32 months, intends to implement initiatives to support the consolidation and enhancement of EMSO-ERIC infrastructure and its activities in Italy and in the surrounding seas. EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water Column Observatory) - ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium), which has its head office in Italy, will perform seafloor observations aimed at the improvement of environmental monitoring and at the prevention of critical events and natural hazards (tsunamis, earthquakes and submarine volcanic eruptions), an objective expressed in the motto “Observing the Ocean to Save the Earth”. The project will improve the capacity of the Italian EMSO node to record geophysical and environmental processes in the seas off the coasts of less developed and transition regions through the following actions: enhancement of scientific and technological equipment at marine sites and land-based laboratories; establishment of a mobile system of intervention to be used for specific monitoring campaigns or in case of environmental emergencies; networking of all existing local infrastructures for real time/near real time transmission of the information and data collected.

The project received 15.897.690,38 euro in funding from the NOP Research and Innovation 2014-2020 under the action “Enhancement of Research Infrastructures” which supports projects aimed at the upgrading of 18 research infrastructures identified as priorities by the Ministry of University and Research in the PNIR 2014-2020, covering one or more ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) areas and having a significant impact on the trajectories of the National Smart Specialization Strategy, in particular in the areas “Digital Agenda, Smart Communities, Smart Mobility Systems” and “Aerospace and Defence”.

The beneficiary of the funding is the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The synergy with the other research institutions involved (ISPRA, OGS and SZN) will help achieve excellence in the field of marine observations, with benefits for new application domains including natural hazard and climate change mitigation, safety at sea, interoperability of different instruments located at sites of scientific and industrial interest. Services that InSEA could be able to provide using the enhanced infrastructures include: real time integrated marine environmental monitoring; studies and research on the effects of productive activities on biodiversity; environmental analysis at sea and feasibility studies; development of sensors and data acquisition systems for marine applications. All this will contribute to developing policies and pathways to attract national and international investments to the reference territory while increasing the competitiveness of companies at local, national and international level.