MERCATOR OCEAN JOURNA: 
SEPTEMBER 2021 
2. THE COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE 
OCEAN MONITORING INDICATOR 
FRAMEWORK 
distributed within a set of 11 families, which contain today 
a total of about 80 OMls, either available as timeseries, 
maps of regional trends or maps of regional anomalies 
(Figure 4). The latter does not include a dissemination of 
numerical values, whereas timeseries and maps of trends 
are disseminated as numerical values, together with 
jocumentation on scientific value, quality and product 
information. All elements are freely available through the 
Zopernicus Marine Service portal. 
An Ocean Monitoring Indicator (OMI) framework has been 
implemented in Copernicus Marine Service which relies on 
scientific developments principally provided in the Ocean 
State Report activity (Figure 1). A large set of OMls is 
OCEAN 
HEAT 
CONTENT 
SEA LEVEL 
OCEAN 
HEALTH 
CLIMATE 
VARIAB. 
NORTH 
ATLANTIC 
SEA ICE 
OCEAN 
HEAT 
CONTENT 
OCEAN 
CURRENTE 
SEA STATE 
TEMP. & 
SAL. 
WATER 
MASS & 
HEAT FE) 
‘igure &: Organization of Copernicus Marine Service OMI framework into 11 OMI families during phase 1. Today, a total of about 80 indicators 
are available, distributed amongst these families. Three types of indicators are available, i.e., timeseries, maps of regional trends, and maps of 
3anomalies. 
The development, implementation and dissemination of 
ocean Indicators is a complex activity, which demands 
a wide range of expertise, capabilities and technical 
solutions. Figure 5 provides a schematic overview on the 
chain of an indicator development, and the overall process 
encompasses 6 essential steps: 
1. Co-construction for indicator development: Co- 
zonstruction needs to be put in place in order 
to define the theoretical baseline for a potential 
ndicator, ideally through close collaboration with a 
scientific expert and a stakeholder. 
2. Technical indicator development: In a next step, the 
adicator must be technically developed, including the 
choice and use of one (or several) relevant data products 
and the technical tool for the indicator processing. This 
step would need to be done by a technical expert in 
collaboration with a scientific expert. 
3. Indicator quality evaluation and control: The 
ndicator then needs to undergo rigorous quality 
checks, as well as to provide a reliable uncertainty 
framework, which relies on data processing, method 
evaluation, and the underlying data used. Also, 
this step needs a dual expertise of technique and 
science. This step requires to consider also flexibility 
to advancements in research and development 
activities, including the monitoring of potentia: 
3lases detected in the upstream products. 
4. Technical implementation: The technicai 
mplementation demands the design of an indicator- 
specific tool, in which all needed information are 
ncluded. A roadmap for the technical implementation 
and the choice of the tool is needed, and should be 
established by specific technical experts accordingly 
to this proposal. The major task is to establish first