The location of the Canary Islands in the North Central Atlantic is a privileged position for the observation of oceanic processes of global and particular interest for Europe, long-term observation and their linkage to associated socio-economic processes. Processes in nature occur on different spatio-temporal scales. The oceans occupy 70% of the planet’s surface, so their influence on the global scale is critical. However, the level of knowledge and observational capacity of the seas and oceans, although substantially improved and increased in recent years, is still insufficient, so there is still a need to improve and extend the capacity to observe the ocean and its contribution to global processes. See Observatory Data Policy:
It includes a multidisciplinary and permanent array of autonomous ocean observation platforms for the observation of the marine environment. Observation systems and facilities support, among others, the environmental monitoring and characterisation needs of the Test Bed.
Coastal node:
Data visualisation portals:
Deep node:
Data download portals:
Both nodes have equipment for measuring meteo-oceanic data.
The PLOCAN observatory is a node of EMSO (European Ocean Observation Infrastructure Network) and concentrates a large observing capacity:
They make it possible to concentrate, update and improve the quality, quantity, projection and usefulness of an integrated observation infrastructure. EMSO website: