News

EEA release new “State of Europe’s seas” report

A new report recently published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that, despite some improvements, the way we use our seas remains unsustainable and threatens not only the productivity of our seas, but also our wellbeing.

The EEA’s ‘State of Europe’s seas’ report examines whether the EU is meeting its policy goals for the quality of the marine environment. Some of the key findings in the report include:

Climate change is already affecting Europe’s marine ecosystems.
Hazardous substances are widespread in the marine environment. They can accumulate through the marine food chain and pose health risks to humans.
Marine litter, mainly in the form of plastic, is also accumulating in Europe’s seas. Most of the litter comes from land-based activities. Micro-plastics can enter the food web.
Underwater noise from human activities (shipping, renewable energy, oil and gas extraction, etc.) is increasing and can have a wide range of impacts on marine life.

The full report can be viewed here.

DCU Researchers receive NVIDIA award

Prof Dermot Diamond and his team at the National Centre for Sensor Research in DCU, have been successful in securing a Quadro K5200 graphics card from NVIDIA through their Academic Hardware Grant Request to assist them in their research for the COMMON SENSE project. Professor Diamond said:

“One main focus of our research is to merge the digital world with the molecular world. To do this we rely heavily on our ability to produce very high quality rendered images from CAD (Computer Aided Design) packages to illustrate our latest system designs to our research partners.”

Speaking on the particularities of the sensors being developed by the COMMON SENSE project, Professor Diamond added:

“These systems are low-cost autonomous sensors designed for in-situ environmental monitoring, providing access to previously unobtainable data by increasing the temporal and spatial resolution issues associated with expensive probe type spot measurements. By sending the recorded data to the cloud we can provide unprecedented access to real time data over wide-scale deployment sites. We can detect and record the concentration of nutrients leading to eutrophication in marine and fresh waters, track gas concentrations in air samples, along with temperature and pressure measurements.”

The COMMON SENSE researchers at DCU would like to thank the NVIDIA team for their support in this research. This award will significantly reduce the computational time required for a full render (including lighting, liquids and transparencies) by 70%, and will result in a greater number of high quality rendered images and videos produced in a much shorter time frame.

DCU nVidia award Dr Margaret McCaul, Mr Eoghan McNamara and Prof Dermot Diamond at the National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University, Ireland.

New COMMON SENSE Progress Update 2015 Factsheet now available

COMMON SENSE is successfully developing prototypes for innovative, next generation sensing technologies that will be a key tool for EU Member States in meeting their Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requirements.

A new 2015 Progress Update factsheet is now available which specifically focuses on how COMMON SENSE sensors will contribute to improving marine monitoring and marine data management. The factsheet provides general project information and objectives as well as an infographic which shows for the project development timeline alongside a timeline for MSFD implementation.

Sensors being developed by the COMMON SENSE project will increase the availability of standardised data on: eutrophication; concentrations of heavy metals; micro plastic fraction within marine litter; underwater noise; and other parameters such as temperature, pH and pressure. These cost-effective sensors directly respond to current marine monitoring challenges and will be a key tool for EU Member States in meeting their MSFD requirements and achieving Good Environmental Status (GES).

The factsheet has been designed to appeal to a non-expert audience. It can be viewed and downloaded here.

For further information about COMMON SENSE, please contact COMMON SENSE Scientific Coordinator Sergio Martinez (smartineznavas@leitat.org)

FixO3 - 2nd call for free access to European ocean observatories

Research organizations and marine technology companies are invited to access 15 ocean observatories to conduct scientific studies or to test technology prototypes with full financial and logistics support.This opportunity comes from the Europe-funded Fixed-point Open Ocean Observatory network (FixO³) project, coordinated by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC).

Observatory locations range from the polar regions of the Antarctic and Arctic, to the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea with a choice of seafloor, mid-water and surface infrastructures with varying scientific focus due to each location’s characteristics.

The submission process is now open until the 20th of July 2015. All material and guidelines for submission are now available on http://www.fixo3.eu/tna/
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COMMON SENSE Partner recognised with prestigious Chemistry Award

Congratulations to COMMON SENSE partner Prof Dermot Diamond who was recently awarded the Boyle-Higgins Gold Medal and Lecture Award by the Institute of Chemistry Ireland.

The Boyle Higgins Medal and Lecture Award is presented annually for research work carried out for either pure chemistry, applied and industrial chemistry or chemical education. The award is made for an outstanding and internationally recognised research contribution to the advancement of chemistry by a chemist of any nationality working in Ireland or by an Irish chemist working overseas.

Prof Diamond is currently Director of The National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) which is located in Dublin City University and is leader of Work Package 5 ‘Sensors for in-situ monitoring of Eutrophication’ in COMMON SENSE. You can read more about Prof Diamond’s fantastic achievement here and here.

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