The MITHO project kicks off

Project update | 23 October 2023

This month the MiTHo (MultIple THreats on Ocean health) project kicked off. Partners from over 8 organisations took part in a hybrid meeting to discuss the objectives and Work Packages of the project.

You can view the introductory presentation about the project here

The 2-year project, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) will advance our ability to understand, monitor and predict the health of the ocean.

Mitho will assess the cumulative impact of multiple climate and anthropogenic stressors on key ecosystem services – biodiversity, phytoplankton biomass, macroalgae biomass, zooplankton biomass, fish biomass, food provisioning and coastal protection, spanning at different temporal scales, and advance our ability to understand, monitor and predict the health of the ocean. Blending Earth Observation (EO) remote sensing data with in-situ measurements and numerical model outputs, through ML techniques MiTHo will reconstruct dissolved O₂ vertical profiles and provide novel EO-based avenues to monitor deoxygenation and from space.

It will develop innovative EO-based multisstressor cumulative hazard indexes, by exploiting the latest Earth Observation (EO)-based products achieved within the ESA Ocean Science cluster projects.

Working together to further our understanding

The ESA Ocean Science Cluster aims to enhance collaborative research and networking; bringing together expertise, data and resources to exploit all available observing systems (EO satellite data, in-situ and citizen observations, advanced modelling capabilities, interdisciplinary research and new technologies.

The cluster currently features 32 projects, a number of which will be utilised by Mitho:

The project is a collaboration between 8 organisations with Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR) as the lead contractor.