Copernicus

The European Earth-observation program Copernicus ensures the collection and provision of free, quality-proofed Earth-observation data for everyone and every type of use. The BSH is active for Copernicus at both national and European level by providing in-situ observations, by being involved in the operation and future development of the prediction centers for the Baltic Sea and the North-West European shelf area, and by accompanying the implementation of the program at national level as the coordinator of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS).

With the EU Regulation No. 377/2014 adopted in 2014, Copernicus was implemented in the long term as an operational Earth-observation system for Europe. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) supports the implementation in Germany and develops the German position on Copernicus in coordination with the Federal Government. In September 2017, the "Copernicus Strategy of the Federal Government" was adopted, which serves as the basis for the development of a national work program with which the strategy can be implemented through concrete measures.

The strategy also reinforces the tasks of the Copernicus national coordinators, who form the core of the national Copernicus network.

The BSH has been entrusted with the national coordination and implementation of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). In this function, the BSH essentially performs two core tasks: providing expert advice to the BMDV and other political decision-makers at national and European level and representing national user interests vis-à-vis the European Commission in the Copernicus User Forum.

At annual workshops and training courses, the BSH provides information on new product developments, data-access points and data-processing options and collects feedback from users.

The Copernicus marine environment monitoring service's products range from the provision of observational data to global current forecasts and maps of Arctic sea-ice cover to chlorophyll distributions in the North Sea and the Baltic.

Data access

Observation data collected on site (in situ)

The site marineinsitu.eu offers an interactive overview of available observation data as well as software tools and explanations on data processing. The measurements of buoys, gauging stations, drifters, floats, ships and ferry boxes are quality controlled and regularly updated. You can visualize the data directly in the portal or download them as files in NetCDF format.



General access to the data and products of the marine Copernicus service

The data and products available on the CMEMS site marine.copernicus.eu are based on the best possible combination of remote sensing data, in-situ data and model results and are provided as re-analyses, in real time and as forecasts.
If you have any questions, please contact the CMEMS service team.


North Sea and Baltic Sea Prediction Products

Within the framework of CMEMS, the BSH runs a Multi Model Ensemble, which compares forecasts of several operational prediction models for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in order to provide information on quality and uncertainties for various physical parameters. The weighted mean of the model products provides the best possible prediction for some these parameters.
Forecast products North Sea
Forecast products Baltic Sea