Plymouth Ocean Forecasting Centre projects
Learn more about our research
Our research projects
Browse this page to learn more about the research projects that ran under the Plymouth Ocean Forecasting Centre. To view our full portfolio of past projects, please visit our
project archive .
UAE Ocean fieldwork
UAE Ocean
2014–2022
UAE Ocean was a £4m project that delivered ocean forecasting capability for the United Arab Emirates. The project was developed by the Plymouth Ocean Forecasting Centre (POFC) as lead partner, working with the Met Office, the Royal Navy, CENORE, the National Oceanography Centre and the Joint Operational Meteorology and Oceanography Centre. The project delivered a new ocean forecasting centre for the UAE running bespoke ocean models developed in Plymouth. POFC was responsible for training Meteorological and Oceanographic Officers to run the new centre, developing scientific capacity which did not previously exist in the UAE.
Water budget and sea level in the Dead Sea
2017–2019
This British Council project investigated why sea level in the Dead Sea is dropping and forecasted future changes. It was delivered with the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, the Israel National Institute of Oceanography and the University of Jordan. The STREAM Trilateral Research Programme supported partnerships between the UK, Israel and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The programme aimed to increase the uptake of environmental research in some of the world’s most water-poor societies.
Professor Georgy Shapiro with Dr Isaac Gertman of the Israel Oceanographic Research Institute
Exxon Mobil – modelling currents in the Black Sea
2016–2019
POFC was awarded this significant commercial project by multi-national oil company, ExxonMobil. The project built on POFC's extensive experience of ocean modelling in the Black Sea. It was part of ExxonMobil's offshore project, Neptun Deep, in the western Black Sea off the Romanian coast. The oil giant requested a study of the bottom currents on the north-western shelf of the Black Sea using a 'Regional Ocean Circulation Model' – and the POFC's modelling study proposal was selected as the only viable option.
Black Sea Checkpoint – environmental monitoring
2015–2018
The Black Sea faces environmental challenges including pollution, eutrophication and biodiversity loss. POFC is contributing EU-funded work to improve the marine environment as part of the European Marine Observation and Data Network. Black Sea Checkpoint brings together data from a wide range of sources to improve knowledge about environmental change in the Black Sea and to respond to the problems it faces. POFC is the work package leader for Challenge 5: Coasts, coordinating the collection and assessment of oceanographic data along the Black Sea coasts.
Training for Meteorological and Oceanographic specialists
POFC developed a comprehensive Continuing Professional Development course designed to fast-track Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) specialists. The course ran alongside the UAE Ocean project to provide the expertise required to operate the UAE Ocean Centre. The course offered complete basic training in oceanography with additional modelling courses. It was delivered jointly with the
School of Biological and Marine Sciences at Plymouth and included modules from the University's BSc courses, with the addition of bespoke ocean modelling modules delivered by members of the POFC team.