Beyond CALYPSO

Beyond CALYPSO - Enhancing oil spill modelling capabilities through the fusion of model, satellite, and HF radar data

Project in Numbers

Duration: 9 months

Start date: 03.01.2023

End Date: 03.10.2023

N. Partner: 7

Project progress:

Total Budget: 300.000 €
of which ERDF Contribution: 255.000 €

Beyond CALYPSO proposes the capitalization of the results of the CALYPSO SOUTH project focused on the response and mitigation of impacts deriving from oil spill (hydrocarbon spill).

The project expands the computational and observation domains by optimising model chains for oil spill tracking.

The expansion of the domains allows the reuse of the technologies developed in CALYPSO SOUTH for the benefit of new stakeholders and takers covering a westMED area that includes territories (Tunisia) outside the Italia-Malta programme, since a pollutant can reach the Sicilian or Maltese coasts as well as quickly reach the Tunisian coasts, depending on the sea currents.

In particular, the project foresees:

- the improvement of the application of oil spill modelling in the Sicilian-Maltese channel;
- the extension of the aforementioned application on a larger scale (westMED area - Italy-Malta-Tunisia);
- the inclusion in the processing chain of the detection of large-scale spills thanks to the use of satellite images (eg. Sentinel 1).

Expected results:
185,000 sq km of surface served by an oil spill detection system through remote sensing and processing of satellite images
25,000 sq km of surface in the Strait of Sicily served by improved oil spill modeling (data fusion)
185,000 sq km of surface served by improved oil spill modelling in the westMED Italy-Malta-Tunisia area

Beyond CALYPSO intends to extend and improve the detection and tracking capabilities of oil spill also over a wider area that can allow stakeholders in the identified westMED areas (Tunisia) to improve the effectiveness of the response to emergency situations.

The project activities will realize:

60.000 square kilometers of area covered by monitoring through images on the test dataset

185.000 square kilometers of area covered by monitoring through images on the current dataset

25.000 square kilometers of area covered by the numerical modeling of oil spill (Italy-Malta)

185.000 square kilometers of area covered by the numerical modeling of oil spill areas westMED identified

25.000 square kilometers of area covered by the exsercise desk

Project Lead Partner:
Università degli Studi di Palermo - Dipartimento di Ingegneria

Project Partners:

  • University of Malta, Faculty of Science Department of Geosciences Oceanography Malta Research Group (OMRG)
  • Università di Catania - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Architettura - DICAR
  • Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Sicilia
  • Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Sede Secondaria di Capo Granitola
  • Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca ambientale

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