Major experts from 12 Mediterranean countries meet in Lecce. The most advanced technologies, the frontier scientific knowledge and the future of research to explore and study the sea, its environment and ecosystems, its weather-climate conditions while searching for new ways to tell it to policy and decision makers, business and public opinion: those are the main topics at the MONGOOS – Mediterranean Oceanography Network for the Global Ocean Observing System workshop.

The name may sound complicate, but represents one of the most important initiative at the international level on marine science research while showing tools and knowledge to get across to stakeholders, that is anyone has interests or activities linked to the marine environment, such as operators of the Marine Coast Guard, decision-makers dealing with security at sea, but also all the operators linked to navigation and fishery, tourism or marine environment protection, without forgetting who experiences the sea just for sport or hobby.
The operational oceanography and MONGOOS (Mediterranean Oceanography Network for the Global Ocean Observing System), the network that brings together the most important research centers in the Mediterranean area focused on this topic, address all these different actors. Major scientists and experts in operational oceanography in the Mediterranean area are coming from 12 countries (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey) to meet in Lecce at Palazzo Turrisi for a three-day meeting, from 26th to 28th November 2014. The workshop will be an important opportunity to make the point on activities, methodologies and results of the different research institutions.

The meeting is organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, one of the leading actors of the network that will present its research activities on oceanography, with a special focus on the Ocean Lab’s work. The Ocean Lab is the laboratory on operational oceanography based in Lecce being one of the most advanced Italian research center on such topics.

More in detail, MONGOOS activities are inspired by values such as the advancement of scientific knowledge and technological development underpinning sea observing systems; the support for these systems and their presentation to policy makers and business to promote their integration at the national, EU and international level; the improvement of the available technologies and services to make simpler and easier their use in political and social strategies and initiatives; the support for international initiatives on operational oceanography to foster the involvement and engagement of non-EU partners in the Mediterranean basin.

Sea also:

• The MONGOOS website
• The workshop agenda, all its topics and speakers