PHYTODIVERSE

Programme: European Space Agency (ESA) – EXPRO+ EUROPEAN COLLABORATION ACTION ON OCEAN HEALTH AND BIODIVERSITY

Duration: 10/09/2025 – 09/09/2028

Project budget: € 1.000.000,00

ISMAR budget: € 200.000,00

Web site: N/A

Summary:

Phytodiverse aligns with several EC projects and aims to advance the science of phytoplankton diversity algorithms for Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and derived indicators from space. The project will develop innovative techniques to combine ESA satellites (S2 and S3) with hyperspectral data (PACE) to create a new Rrs dataset with enhanced spatial resolution, while also developing algorithms to analyze functional and trait diversity of phytoplankton using hyperspectral satellite data, investigating both community diversity and ecosystem function class EBVs. Building upon the recently funded HyperBOOST project, Phytodiverse will construct and expand an in-situ dataset for calibration and validation purposes. The project will generate satellite datasets using new products and will work in synergy with recently approved projects like Phyto-CCI and TIME. Phytodiverse will produce uncertainty quantification through comparisons with in-situ data, different satellite products, and models. Various indicators, including trends and extremes, will be connected to the products generated within Phytodiverse. Three distinct science cases will utilize these products and indicators across different environments (supersites) to investigate phytoplankton diversity succession within and around blooms: the open ocean case study will examine long-term changes in plankton community and function in the NE Atlantic, the coastal case study will focus on phytoplankton bloom diversity in the Northern Adriatic, and the polar case study will investigate phytoplankton diversity in the Arctic. Each science case and its associated tools are integrated with ongoing EC projects. Through this comprehensive approach, the process of connecting various products in a workflow towards indicators, enriched by knowledge gained from the science cases, will inform a roadmap for future EC-ESA project collaboration, while acknowledging both limitations and opportunities.

Contact person in ISMAR: emanuele.organelli@cnr.it

• Partnership:
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory (United Kingdom)
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine (Italy)
• University of Athens  (Greece)
• Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
• AZTI: Centro de Investigación Marina y Alimentaria  (Spain)
• HYGEOS (France)
• EMBRC ERIC: European Marine Biology Resource Centre (France)