Better management for emergencies, an updated database for sustainable transportation, real-time information for ship routing and safety. The IONIO project gets underway in Lecce to spread environmental information and knowledge of the South Adriatic and Northern Ionian area.

Its name is IONIO (IONian Integrated marine Observatory) and stands for an European project that aims at designing and implementing tools for environmental information on the Southern Adriatic and Northern Ionian (SANI) Program Area to support safer maritime traffic and the reduction of pollution hazard.

Funded by the European Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme “Greece-Italy”, IONIO involves researchers belonging to three different institutes (CMCC – Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, Enea and HCMC – Hellenic Centre For Marine Research) who will work together in order to develop analyses and tools to improve safety and the sustainable perspective in the Ionian Sea and the Southern Adriatic.

In particular the project will produce a monitoring and forecasting system for the SANI area in order to provide the dissemination of high-resolution environmental information to mariners in the area. A database containing observational and modeling data from 2008 (for model only) to 2013 (the end of the project) will supply necessary environmental information for the sustainable development of transport systems in the Area. The database will be available through a web portal to be accessed both in real-time and delayed mode.

Furthermore, IONIO researchers will produce three Decision Support Systems (DSS). Among them is a DSS for Search And Rescue, which computes the trajectory of bodies at surface and subsurface to help to reduce the loss of lives due to ship accidents. A second DSS addresses Ship Routing and Safety and includes real-time wind, wave and current data to promote safe navigation. The third one is a DSS for Pollution Hazard Mapping containing information about ships tracks crossing the area and the potential dispersal of pollutants.

The Kick-off meeting of the IONIO Project took place in Lecce (January 24-25, 2012) at the CMCC’s headquarters.

The official webpage of the IONIO Project

Picture by Fabcom