Copernicus Maritime Surveillance Service, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European Programme using sophisticated satellites for earth observation. Managed by EMSA, the service can be used to address a wide range of areas, such as piracy, marine environment, defence, and customs.
Namely, the service contributes to the protection and the sustainable management of living marine resources in particular for aquaculture, fishery research or regional fishery organisations. For example, it can address illegal fishing, as a major threat to the marine environment and the global economy.
Many of the data delivered by the service (e.g. temperature, salinity, sea level, currents, wind and sea ice) also play a crucial role in the domain of weather, climate and seasonal forecasting.
In addition, the provision of data on currents, winds and sea ice help to improve ship routing services, offshore operations or search and rescue operations, thus contributing to marine safety.
