Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3619-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3619-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Review article
| 
06 Nov 2026
Review article |
| 06 Nov 2026
| 06 Nov 2026
The Mediterranean observation systems: MonGOOS analysis of present capabilities, weaknesses and perspectives
Manuel Vargas-Yáñez
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Spanish National Research Council, Malaga, Spain
Orens Pasqueron de Fommervault
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC), Paris, France
Emanuela Clementi
CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, Bologna, Italy
Christian Ferrarin
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Svitlana Liubartseva
CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, Bologna, Italy
Diego Álvarez-Berastegui
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Spanish National Research Council, Palma, Spain
Baptiste Mourre
Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (IMEDA), Spanish National Research Council – Universitat Illes Balears (CSIC-UIB), Mallorca, Spain
Matjaz Licer
Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO), Ljubljana, Slovenia
National Institute of Biology (NIB), Ljubljana, Slovenia
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana, Slovenia
George Alexandrakis
Coastal Marine Research Lab, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece
Salvatore Aronica
Institute for Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnology of the National Research Council (IRBIM-CNR), Ancona, Italy
Rosa Balbín
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Spanish National Research Council, Palma, Spain
Joaquín Ballabrera-Poy
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Sana Ben Ismail
Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer (INST), Tunis, Tunisia
Nathaniel Bensoussan
Univ. Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM, 29280 Plouzané, France
Ismail Bessa
Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (INRH), Casablanca, Morocco
Alicia Blanco
European Global Ocean Observing System (EuroGOOS), Brussels, Belgium
Anthony Bosse
Aix-Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France
Evi Bourma
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Anavyssos, Greece
François Bourrin
Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD) – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 66000 Perpignan, France
Carlo Brandini
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Consorzio LaMMA, 50019 Firenze, Italy
Fulvio Capodici
Università degli Studi di Palermo, UNIPA, Palermo, Italy
Clara Casals-Baixas
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Branko Cermelj
National Institute of Biology (NIB), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Giuseppe Ciraolo
Università degli Studi di Palermo, UNIPA, Palermo, Italy
Pascal Conan
CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Microbienne, LOMIC, Sorbonne Université, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, OSU STAMAR, UAR2017, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris CEDEX 05, France
Laurent Coppola
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, OSU STAMAR, UAR2017, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris CEDEX 05, France
Lorenzo Corgnati
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Joaquín del Río
SARTI-MAR Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
Emilie Diamond Riquier
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, OSU STAMAR, UAR2017, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris CEDEX 05, France
Lara Díaz-Barroso
Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB), Palma, Spain
Bartolomeo Doronzo
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Consorzio LaMMA, Livorno, Italy
Xavier Durrieu de Madron
Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD) – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 66000 Perpignan, France
Milad Fakhri
National Centre for Marine Sciences, National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon (CNRS-L), Beirut, Lebanon
Constantin Frangoulis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Anavyssos, Greece
Claudia Fratianni
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
Emilio García-Ladona
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Jesús García-Lafuente
Universidad de Málaga (UMA), Malaga, Spain
M. Carmen García-Martínez
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Spanish National Research Council, Malaga, Spain
Joaquín Garrabou
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Josep Gasol
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Adam Gauci
Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Frédéric Gazeau
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, LOV, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Gerald Gregori
Aix-Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France
Abed El Rahman Hassoun
National Centre for Marine Sciences, National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon (CNRS-L), Beirut, Lebanon
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Jordi Isern-Fontanet
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Dominique Lefevre
Aix-Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France
Nadia Lo Bue
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
Guiomar López
Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB), Palma, Spain
Pablo Lorente
Puertos del Estado (PE), Madrid, Spain
Deny Malengros
Aix-Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France
Ramon Massana
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Sinan Mavruk
Fisheries Faculty, Çukurova University, 01330 Balcali, Adana, Türkiye
Stefano Miserocchi
Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council of Italy Bologna, Italy
Behzad Mostajir
MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
Laure Mousseau
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, LOV, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Francina Moya
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Spanish National Research Council, Malaga, Spain
Antonio Novellino
ETT|DEDA Group, Genova, Italy
Arianna Orasi
Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Rome, Italy
Emanuele Organelli
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Vincent Ouisse
MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
Tal Ozer
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research (IOLR), Haifa, Israel
Antonios Parasyris
Coastal Marine Research Lab, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece
Begoña Pérez-Gómez
Puertos del Estado (PE), Madrid, Spain
Susana Pérez-Rubio
Puertos del Estado (PE), Madrid, Spain
Leonidas Perivoliotis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Anavyssos, Greece
George Petihakis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Anavyssos, Greece
Anne Petrenko
Aix-Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France
Sebastien Pinel
Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD) – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 66000 Perpignan, France
Xavier Pitarch
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Angela Pomaro
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Lucía Quirós-Collazos
Institut Català de Recerca per a la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR), Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Emma Reyes
Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB), Palma, Spain
Simone Sammartino
Universidad de Málaga (UMA), Malaga, Spain
Anna Sánchez-Vidal
Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics, University of Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
Lucía Sanz-Pinilla
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Servicios Centrales, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain
Katrin Schroeder
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venezia, Firenze, Lerici, Rome, Italy
Stefano Taddei
Consorzio LaMMA, Livorno, Italy
Elena Tel
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Servicios Centrales, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain
Pierre Testor
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France
Marco Torri
National Research Council of Italy. Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean (CNR-ISMed), Palermo, Italy
Daniela Turk
Independent Scientist, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Laura Ursella
National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), Trieste, Italy
Dimitris Velaoras
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Anavyssos, Greece
Francesca Vidussi
MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
Ivica Vilibić
Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Zagreb, Croatia
Institute for Adriatic Crops, Split, Croatia
Enrico Zambianchi
Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy
Nikolaos D. Zarokanellos
Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB), Palma, Spain
George Zodiatis
ORION Research, Nicosia, Cyprus
Vanessa Cardin
National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), Trieste, Italy
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Short summary
This work provides a comprehensive overview of the current marine observation capabilities in the Mediterranean Sea, making this information accessible to scientists, stakeholders and environmental policymakers. It supports initiatives such as the Copernicus Marine Service, European Marine Observation and Data Network, the European Ocean Pact and relevant European Union directives. It’s intended to be regularly updated, helping to identify strengths and gaps in Mediterranean observation systems.
This work provides a comprehensive overview of the current marine observation capabilities in...
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