BioEcoOcean is contributing to the long-term vision for the European Digital Twin of the Ocean

The Digital Ocean Forum (DOF) 2024 took place on 13th June 2024 in Brussels, Belgium, with the goal to feature the prototype of the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO), powered by EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service. The BioEcoOcean project was represented at this high-level event by our partner Mercator Ocean International (MOI).

During a panel discussion on “The long-term vision for the European Digital Twin Ocean," MOI’s early-career researcher Tony Candela, who will contribute to BioEcoOcean’s Pelagic Living Lab 1, spoke about the importance of sea turtles as indicators for monitoring biodiversity and their selection as a use-case for the European Digital Twin of the Ocean. 

In his PhD, Tony is working on the application of satellite tracking technologies and numerical modelling to reveal the initial dispersal of juvenile sea turtles, from their first entry into the ocean to their sexual maturity many years later. By studying the dispersal of juvenile sea turtles at sea under different oceanic conditions, Tony hopes to simulate their dispersal and predict their habitats. 

Through BioEcoOcean, Tony and his colleagues at MOI will advance the sea turtle model development, ultimately enabling What-If Scenarios relevant for the much needed biodiversity applications of the European DTO.