Technical staff from PLOCAN, within the framework of the ECOMARPORT project, executed technical tasks of maintenance and installation of new devices for autonomous monitoring of oceanographic parameters included in the Macaronesian Marine and Maritime Observation Network (R3M), specifically in the station 706 located in the facilities of the Funchal Sports Port and in the station 1017 located in the commercial port of Porto Santo Island.
Works on both devices, which were developed and put into operation by technical staff from PLOCAN, were supported by the Port Authority of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (APRAM) and the Oceanic Observatory of Madeira (OOM), project partners of ECOMARPORT.
The main objective of the ECOMARPORT Project, co-funded by the first call for projects of the the INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal MAC (Madeira-Azores-Canarias) 2014-2020 co-operation programme, is to promote Marine-Maritime R&D&i in the European and African regions of Macaronesia by rolling out an operational environmental and marine observation network in terms of water and air quality in the ports of Macaronesia, by developing and implementing sustainable, state-of-the-art technologies, generating products and tools of value for users as a whole, all based on suitable, efficient co-operation and technological transfer between the public sector and the private sector in the area of marine-maritime sciences and technology, thus fostering business opportunities in the context of Blue Growth.
The device 706, located in the facilities of the Funchal Sports Port, integrates a specific configuration of oceanographic sensors of reference, which are intended to measure continuously essential water variables such as temperature, conductivity, disolved oxygen, turbidity and hydrocarbons. The device 1017 monitors the temperature of air and water, the hydrocarbon presence and the solar radiation. The data recorded in both devices is available in the R3M website or PLOCAN with the rest of data recorded by the devices placed in the four macaronesian archipelagos.
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Furthermore, coordination and technical monitoring meetings were celebrated with APRAM and OOM staff, related to the ECOMARPORT project implementation that finishes at the end of 2019.
Similar actions will be taken in the Canary Islands and the Azores during the next months in order to improve and expand the R3M observation capacity.