MERCATOR OCEAN JOURNA: 
SEPTEMBER 2021 
4.2 Software 
L. POST 021 PERSDECTIVES 
It is not easy for the DU Consortium to precisely define 
evolutions beyond 2021, as the Statement of Work for the 
Dissemination Unit provides usually very Sstrict 
requirements and precise guidelines on (e.g.,) software 
and technical solutions to be adopted. 
The experience gained during Copernicus Marine Service 
Phase 2 however, helped in identifying possible improvements 
that can be grouped in four main activities: backend 
technologies and architecture, software, service management 
and introduction of stronger formalization on data production 
4.1 Backend technologies and architecture 
At the time of the Phase 2 proposal, no information was 
given about the cloud provider, making Impossible to 
design an architecture tailored on specific features and 
leading to a generic design. This design proved to be 
flexible enough to fulfil the needs of the Service, but at the 
same time showed some limitations that must be overcome 
considering the next evolutions of the Service in terms of 
data provided and users served. 
In particular, the IO layer is the most important bottleneck and 
efforts should be directed to Iimproving this aspect. Actual 
‘block storage” approach should be abandoned in favour of 
‘object storage” solutions, which grant better scalability, faster 
data retrieval possibly an optimization in terms of resources 
Moreover, compatibly with the software needed for advanced 
Interfaces and cloud provider features, more automated design 
should be implemented (e.g., backend auto scalability). 
Two main software provides access to advanced interfaces: 
-HREDDS and MOTU. Experience showed their specific 
limitations (e.g., THREDDS is not scalable natively) and it is 
advised to evaluate different solutions. 
4.3 Service management 
The Service management is the core activity of the DU 
Consortium. With the quick increment of the number of 
backend and transactions, the DU needs more automatic 
solutions for deploying and connecting resources upon 
requests/needs (auto scalability), improving auto recovery 
procedures (in case of faults) and increasing the centralization 
9f services for a more congruent Service management 
4.4 Data production formalization 
A weakness identified since the beginning of the Contract, 
that affected DU design and functionalities, is the lack of 
strong formalization on data production. While not part of 
the DU mission, It is strongly suggested to carry on the 
work undertaken by the TWG in order to define a stricter 
Zopernicus Marine Service Data Specification (CDS), taking 
into consideration software solutions that will be adopted. 
It would help the DU to increase automatization (e.g., on 
data validation before the ingestion) but also producers 
above all during the design of new products and users, 
providing a more congruent catalogue. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The “Dissemination Unit” has been a long, interesting but challenging journey. Authors want to thank the whole CMEMS 
DU Team for the effort and professionalism showed during the whole lifetime of the Service that allowed the service 
provisioning even during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, including administrative colleagues, and people who does not 
collaborate with DU anymore: 
Rosalia Santoleri', Flavio La Padula', Emma Dacunzo', Cristina Tronconi', Edoardo Seno', Massimiliano Zanghi?, Marco 
Alba?, Paolo D’Angelo?, Michela Busi’, Giuseppe Manzella?, Alessia Scipioni‘, Antoine Azemar®, Gilbert Barrot®, Stephane 
Clouaire®, Helene Le Fur®, David Ros®, Edouard Hubner®, Antoine Troullier®, Thierry Carval*, Cecile Salaun*, Jeröme Detoc*, 
Corentin Guyot“, Yann-Etienne Prigent*, Antoine Queric“, Alessandra Paciucci”, Andrea Tesseri”, Simone Garofalo®, 
Stanislaw Rogoza®, Tullio Crisafulli”, Barbara Borgia®, Leonardo Calamai®, Simone Integlia®, Marco Mastrecchia®, Giovanni 
Corato®, Dario Torregrossa®, Frederic Twahirwa®, Chrystele Besson®, Gaston Briot®, Damir Kero®, Lukasz Grandys®, Syed 
Mehdi®, Andres Salgado®, Tarek Habib’, Sylvain Marty’, Jerome Doumerc’. Gwena&l Renard®, Mazurier Alain®, Fabio 
D’Andria?’, Emiliano Fedeli? 
CNR; ?ETT SpA: 3ACRI ST: “FREMER: 5SERCO Italia SpA: °AdwäisEO: ’CLS: SAltran:; °’Laser Romae sır.ı.