A Regional Capacity Building and Networking Programme to Upgrade Monitoring and Forecasting Activity in the Black Sea Basin (ARENA)

First Black Sea GOOS Project
ARENA

An European Union (EU) funded project under Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development fifth framework.

ARENA is an operational oceanography oriented project aiming regional capacity building in close collaboration with the regional and other relevant organisations.

Problems to be solved by ARENA

ARENA aims to:

1. identify the gaps, needs, resources and existing capacities of the Black Sea countries, identify the needs of the end users and foster an adequate capacity building through training and networking to improve the ongoing basin wide activities,
2. monitor and assess the changes of the ecosystem characteristics of the Black Sea,
3. formulate a Data-Base Management System and explore, quantify and initiate a preliminary prediction system and set up a network among the Black Sea Institutions and establish links for the regional information and dissemination for marine data and services,
4. set up links and collaborate with the other ongoing international programmes,
5. raise awareness and build up an efficient dissemination system and disseminate information and the basin wide activities to all community,
6. improve the regional capacity to serve Black Sea GOOS, EuroGOOS and GOOS.

Description of the work

Some of approaches for implementation of ARENA objectives are:

• Support for schemes to provide information and assistance for research players, including SMEs and including the development of closer international scientific co-operation;
• The exchange of information, conferences, seminars, workshops and scientific and technical meeting;
• Dissemination, information and communication activities, including scientific publications, activities for the exploitation of results and the transfer of technologies, encouragement of innovation financing and assistance with the protection of intellectual property;
• Training schemes related to RTD activities;
• Support for promotion of common data structures and for data compatibility, standardisation, processing, management and exchange.

Milestones and Expected impacts

The major milestones of ARENA can be summarized as:

• A basin wide capacity and improvement obtained through training, exchange of information, upgraded the facilities and sharing the information.
• Set up of a database management system serving to the regional institutions for the initiation of observation and forecasting systems.
• Organisation building by integration of the national observing activities into GOOS.
• A fill-in of the gaps of the ongoing national and international programmes.
• Improvement of the conditions of the marine ecosystem and optimal use of resources of the Black Sea.
• Marine meteorological and oceanographic predictions for shipping, harbours, search and rescue other ocean activities.
• Establishment of efficient information flow system.

ARENA partnership

ARENA the first project in the Black Sea bringing together the regioned oceanographic institutes, hydrometeorological  and international organisations.

Eighteen Partners of ARENA are:

• Institute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgaria
• Tbilisi State University, Georgia
• State Department of Hydro-meteorology of Georgia
• National Institute for Marine Research and Development "Grigore Antipa", Romania
• National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Romania
• P.P.Shirshov Instituteof Oceanology,
• Russian Academy of Scienses
• Hyrometeorological Research Centre of Russian Federation
• State Oceanography Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
• METU Institute of Marine Sciences, Turkey
• Sinop Fisheries Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey
• Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Sebastopol
• Marine Branch of Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, Sebastopol
• Black Sea Commission, Istanbul, Turkey
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO, Paris
• Black Sea Environmental Programme, Programme
• Implementation Unit, Istanbul, Turkey
• International Marine Centre, Italy
• Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute

Visit ARENA Project Web Site for more details