HiSea presented at Valencia Port’s Blue Energy Lab event

The EU-funded HiSea project, (High resolution Copernicus-Based Information Services at Sea for Ports and Aquaculture), figured prominently among the presentations at the Blue Energy Lab event hosted by the Valencia Port Authority on February 21, 2019, and organised by the Valenciaport Foundation and the Valencia European Center for Innovative Businesses (CEEI Valencia).

The Blue Energy Lab sought to facilitate discussion and provide in-depth information on various aspects of the advances and recent developments related to Blue Energy taking place in the Valencia Community region, including work carried out by relevant local businesses and Valencian technology and research centers.

HiSea was the primary project presented at the session focusing on maritime and portuary initiatives and technologies, moderated by Valenciaport Foundation’s Director of European Projects and Innovation, Rafael Company.

HiSea was also presented by Valenciaport Foundation project chief Mark Tanner, and discussed alongside the EU-funded ODYSSEA Project, the state of sustainability in the Valencian ports, and potential use of the ports’ wave energy to generate power. A separate session focused on Maestrale and related blue energy pilot projects.

HiSea’s main objective is to test and demonstrate information services that provide high-resolution data on seawater quality, Tanner told laboratory participants.

“Within this framework, HiSea will develop a webserver service that will provide atmospheric, terrestrial and marine data through the EU Earth Observation and Monitoring service,” Tanner said. “This system/service will allow the collection of data for local monitoring as well as advanced modelling of various parameters of possible pollution at sea. Therefore, HiSea will allow a better planning, performance and management of operations both in ports, and in the aquaculture sector, which is also considered in this project”.

Tanner stressed the importance of the quality of COPERNICUS satellite images, whose high precision and high resolution play a “crucial role” in providing highly detailed information on the physical, chemical and biological processes related to water quality.

HiSea project information services will include early warning on situations liable to endanger daily activities (storms, algae blooms, severe pollution incidents), real-time data to inform handling of contamination emergencies, key performance indicators for both aquaculture and port sectors, information for use in operational planning (hydrodynamics and water quality forecasts, accurate weather data), accumulation of a knowledge database to improve management of operations in the future, and more.