Environmental Maritime Modelling and Analytics (EMMA)

Smart shipping innovation to predict and manage maritime emissions in coastal environments
Smart shipping
 
Maritime transport is essential to the UK economy, but vessel operations contribute to air and water pollution in ports and coastal communities. Existing models, such as the Department for Transport's Maritime Emissions Model, provide fleet-level forecasts but do not show how emissions behave in specific local environments.
The Environmental Maritime Modelling and Analytics (EMMA) project addresses this gap with an AI-powered smart shipping solution that predicts, visualises, and analyses how maritime emissions disperse in real-world coastal conditions.
EMMA functions like a 'weather forecast' for maritime emissions, providing high-resolution, location-specific insight into environmental impacts. The system integrates:
  • Vessel tracking data via the automatic identification system
  • Oceanographic conditions (currents, waves)
  • Meteorological data (wind, temperature)
  • Air quality sensor networks
  • Satellite observations
By integrating various historic and real-time data sources, EMMA creates geospatial visualisations that illustrate where and when emissions cluster in port zones and coastal communities.
It distinguishes emissions linked to port activities from those originating elsewhere in Europe or Africa, and examines how weather and ocean conditions influence the dispersion of emissions.
EMMA also assesses the cumulative effects of multiple vessels operating in proximity and identifies seasonal and temporal patterns in emission concentrations.
The project will be piloted in Plymouth Sound, an area that has access to several ports and harbours. Project partners will collaborate with Cattewater Harbour Commissioners, Associated British Ports, and Plymouth City Council.
This pilot will integrate emissions data into existing decision-making frameworks, supporting:
  • Port authorities – to schedule vessel movements that reduce hotspots.
  • City planners – to understand air quality impacts on communities.
  • Vessel operators – to optimise routes and reduce environmental impact.
Aerial view of Plymouth Sound
Over a seven-month project period, EMMA will deliver:
  • A functional prototype of geospatial data layers and visualisations.
  • Validation of predictions against real-world sensor and satellite measurements.
  • Case studies demonstrating environmental and operational benefits.
Following the pilot, EMMA will be commercialised as a 'data-as-a-service' platform accessible to port authorities, maritime operators, local and national governments, and environmental agencies.
 
In the project, the University of Plymouth is leading research on air and water quality in relation to maritime activity, focusing on data collection, monitoring, and modelling to better understand the environmental impacts of shipping in and around the port of Plymouth.
Air quality and atmospheric deposition
  • On-the-ground monitoring of air quality in areas of:
    • High maritime activity within the port.
    • Local background sites for comparison.
  • Measurement of aerosols and wet deposition, including key elements and ions.
Water quality monitoring
  • Point source monitoring of harbour and surface seawater in the port of Plymouth.
  • Parameters include nutrients, fluorescence, and elemental concentrations.
  • Data will be compared against remote reference sites.
Data mining and analysis
  • Integration of multiple existing datasets, including:
    • Coastal atmospheric and seawater time series (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Western Channel Observatory).
    • The Electric Seaway south coast harbour air quality network.
    • DEFRA coastal monitoring sites and project data
Advanced modelling
  • Use of AI and multivariate modelling techniques to combine monitoring data (air and water) with wider datasets.
  • Parameterisation of models to assess links between maritime activity, atmospheric deposition, and water quality.

Trailblazing clean maritime innovation

At Plymouth, we are among the UK's leading proponents of clean maritime research, with a track record in consistently securing government funding through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition.
Through engagement with business and the wider scientific community, we are co-creating ways of transforming this research into practical solutions to challenges faced by the marine and maritime sectors.
 
Clean Maritime

Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy 

In response to climate change imperatives, we are bringing together a critical mass of leading research and expertise from across the University of Plymouth. Through co-creation and collaboration with partners from business, government and key communities from across the globe, the Centre aims to be a beacon for the University’s whole-system transdisciplinary approach to solutions-oriented research, accelerating sustainable developments in decarbonisation and renewable energy.
 
Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy