The TOSCA (Tracking Oil Spills & Coastal Awareness network) project is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund in the framework of the MED Programme. It intends to improve the quality and effectiveness of decision-making process in case of marine accidents concerning oil spill pollution and search and rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean.This will be done with the help of a network including local authorities, policy makers and scientists, with a scientific maritime monitoring and forecasting system and with the implementation of decision support tools and action plans.
Learn moreLocal authorities and public administrations in charge of emergency plans in case of maritime accidents, policy makers involved in environment and maritime safety issues, scientific community working on oceanographic project and research. The project concerns a wide range of professionals involved in operational, strategic and scientific aspects to ensure an efficient response in the event of a maritime accident.
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In the context of the TOSCA project, which aims to provide a better answer in case of a maritime accident, we are pleased to invite you to the final event of the project which will highlight an “Innovative approach and tools for a better response to maritime accidents“
On the 30th and 31st of May, a two-days conference will take place in Alexandroupolis (Greece). This event will be the occasion to present the TOSCA methodology and main results of the project to the main key stakeholders in Greece.
On 11 February 2013, at the request of the Maritime Prefect of the Mediterranean, French project partner of TOSCA project, Anne Molcard, scientific coordinator of TOSCA presented the first results of the project to the CEDAR management team.
Fine tuning drift pathways The TOSCA project observational network was set up in five high-risk areas and has shown that data from radars and drifters can provide real-time visibility of coastal surface currents. HF radars are the only way of obtaining a synoptic view of these currents...
Drifters put through their paces The accuracy of oil spill drift forecasts based solely on mathematical models is subject to uncertainty based on the approximations made when models are set up. TOSCA has shown that this uncertainty can be reduced with the help of live observation.
LAVA ENHANCES DRIFT MODELS By blending radar and drifter data, it is possible to enhance oil slick drift forecasts. This is what TOSCA partners have observed thanks to LAVA. Customized for the TOSCA project, this software was tested with data gathered during observation off the coast...
TODAY... AND TOMORROW After almost three years of tests and experiments, TOSCA has now gained currency as a tool capable of enhancing oil slick tracking models, enabling more accurate tracking of drift pathways following maritime accidents. Current results are however based on limit...
The TOSCA team will soon present to the authorities a web interface tool to aid decision-making. It will display the ocean currents and the pathways of floating objects tracked during experiments. Still based on data gathered during in-situ test p...
Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography
PMP-TVT develops and promotes its socio-economic environment by managing and helping innovative projects within its territory with the help of networks and partnerships. With the TOSCA project and as Lead Partner, PMP-TVT emphasize its actions to...
PACA Sea Innovation & Business Cluster - Toulon Var Technologies
Coastal radar is a powerful tool for observing the surface ocean currents in a quasi synoptic way. TOSCA represents the first European effort to build a radar network to monitor the surface currents in the Mediterranean Sea, for correcting the mod...
Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography
What is the nature of the pollution? Where is it now? Where and when will it hit the coast? These are the questions the authorities in charge of the management at sea of a pollution crisis have to face. The TOSCA project develops a new approach fo...
Prefecture of the Mediterranean Sea - French State
The marine area east of Lemnos receives the Black Sea waters entering through the Dardanelles straits, thus it is in high risk of pollution in case of marine accidents in the TSS system. Thus the University of the Aegean aims to exploit our HF rad...
University of the Aegean - Department of Marine Sciences
Pollution prevention and search and rescue operations require an ever increasing quality environmental observations and model predictions, due to the complexity of the coastal environmental conditions and activities. The combination of new monitor...
Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications - Athens University
The implementation of TOSCA project coincides with the vast administrative change (Kallikratis Project) that was recently introduced in the Local Administration in Greece. The reassessment of responsibilities between different institutions render...
Region of East Macedonia and Thrace
The MED TOSCA project is one exceptional project in the field of Oil Spill Response research due to its main purpose : to give a final holistic approach and answer to the most serious today’s marine pollution problem.
The gathering of the best...
Technological Education Institute of Piraeus
The Gulf of Naples represents one of the most extensively monitored coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea, thanks to the efforts of DiSAm in coordination with other scientific institutions based in the Campania region, and with local
authoritie...
Department of Environmental Sciences - Parthenope University
TOSCA is a pioneering project due to its goal to create a stable network of local authorities, decision makers and scientists to improve environmental policy in case of marine accidents in the Mediterranean. The five tests sites encompass the pr...
National Research Council - Institute of Marine Sciences
The Mediterranean is an important traffic zone for oil tankers allowing access to Southern Europe, North Africa, The Middle East and The Black Sea. Besides a high number of oil-related sites (pipeline terminals, refineries, offshore platforms, et...
Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies-Balearic Islands University
The Mediterranean basin which represents only 0.8% of the oceans surface supports
about 1/6 of the global sea traffic and 1/3 of the global oil traffic equivalenbt to 8 million oil barrels per day. The risk of having marine pollution accidents is...
Marine Sciences Institute
As the coordinating partner of CP4.1, OGS is responsible for the installation of HF radars in the test sites and for the development of the sampling strategy for the main instruments.
OGS is also involved in CP3.2 (provision and technical improve...
National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics
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