Data science and artificial intelligence are some of the methods used by MARION, the marine pollution prevention system developed at IHCantabria.

The development of new techniques and tools based on innovative methods, such as data science and artificial intelligence, will contribute to improving the prevention and management of bathing water quality and marine pollution in coastal environments. This is the main objective of MARION, one of the 17 projects that make up the Marine Sciences Program (PCM) at the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of the University of Cantabria(IHCantabria), whose implementation began in September last year.

This is the “Operational System for the Prediction of Oceanographic Variables and the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in Coastal Environments”, known as the System for MARrinePollutIOnPrevention, which is the origin of the acronym MARION, with which this project is identified. Its principal investigators (PI) are Ana Julia Abascal Santillana and Andrés García Gómez, from the Ocean Group of IHCantabria.

This project will develop methodologies and tools based on numerical, hybrid and artificial intelligence modeling, with a double objective: on the one hand, to contribute with techniques that allow to obtain, in an optimal way, the high resolution marine variables required in coastal environments and, on the other hand, to offer statistical and hybrid techniques that -from the marine variables obtained before- allow to create in an ideal way the warning, prevention and management systems against marine pollution.

The new methodologies and tools provided by the MARION project will serve as the basis for implementing an operational oceanography system and a marine pollution warning, prevention and management system in the Bay of Santander and the coast of Cantabria. This system will allow early warning of bathing water quality and improve the fight against pollution from accidental spills, plastics and marine debris. Therefore, the results and impact of this project will be relevant to all those interested in preventing and managing marine pollution in coastal environments.

Consistent with the SDGs and the challenges of Horizon Europe

Marine pollution is a growing reality that coastal areas are and will continue to face. Therefore, conserving and sustainably using the oceans and seas is a priority for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the milestones set by the 2030 Agenda. In addition, one of the 5 challenges of Horizon Europe is the Water and Oceans Mission, whose challenge is to “restore the health of our waters, seas and oceans, which are very deteriorated, because they have suffered for decades from pollution and the harmful effects of uses that have severely degraded the state of aquatic systems,” explains Ana Julia Abascal, one of the PIs of the MARION project.

In coherence with these premises, and given the importance of this problem, during the last decades the creation of models, methodologies and tools for the prevention and management of marine pollution has been promoted; for this purpose, it is necessary to consider the pollution derived from industrial spills, accidental spills, plastics and marine debris. The development of these studies requires physical data of the marine environment (such as temperature, currents and salinity), which are useful for analyzing the problem and for generating tools that are useful for decision making. These variables have been considered in the design of the new methodologies and tools being developed by the MARION project.

Expected impact of the implementation of the MARION project

From the scientific-technical point of view, the project will generate new knowledge on hydrodynamic and contaminant modeling in the marine environment, based on the application of artificial intelligence techniques and hybrid methods. It will also generate new tools, based on state-of-the-art technologies, for the warning, prevention and management of pollution in the marine environment. Therefore, MARION offers to provide the community of Cantabria with new knowledge, data and tools that will contribute to the reduction of pollution and the protection of the marine environment.

From a socio-economic point of view, the results of the MARION project will contribute to the prevention and reduction of pollution, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14). This project is funded by the Complementary Plan for R&D&I in Marine Sciences, ThinkInAzul, and is scheduled for completion in February 2025.