UK joins EU OceanEye program to improve extreme weather forecasts

Data-sharing pact with Canada aims to fill critical ocean monitoring gaps

Eagle made the announcement at a meeting attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at UN headquarters in New York.

“As an island nation and a global leader in climate science, we know that data from ocean monitoring is essential to our ability to protect and restore our oceans, and anticipate and respond to the huge threats they face, because we cannot save our oceans if we do not understand them,” Eagle said.

The EU launched OceanEye in June with €92 million (£78 million) in funding to boost its role in ocean observation and provide data-backed marine intelligence. The initiative aims to create a digital “real-time” replica model of the ocean collected by satellites, sensors and other systems by 2030, to inform decisions on ocean protection and security.

Changing weather patterns and ocean currents, including this year’s “supersized” El Niño tracked in the Pacific Ocean, are expected to fuel more extreme weather globally, scientists have warned. Eagle said that changing weather and currents “are fuelling the extreme weather which is already impacting all of our nations — through floods, droughts, storms and extreme heat.”

The UK’s decision to join OceanEye comes amid efforts by Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government to rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe.

Joining the alliance to support and provide data to the Global Ocean Observing System will help better protect Britain from climate change impacts, Defra said. The global ocean observing capacity currently has significant gaps at the poles, in the deep ocean and in biological measurements.

In addition to weather and climate predictions, ocean observations also underpin national security, global trade and marine protections.

The US, which provides over half the world’s ocean observing platforms and much of the related technology, reversed a proposal earlier this year to scrap its $368 million (£275 million) funding for the Ocean Observatories Initiative after a backlash from scientists. However, scientists said moves to cut funding for US ocean agencies have left the Global Ocean Observing System vulnerable to changing priorities of the US administration.