A description of Ocean Forecasting Applications around the Globe

Abstract. Operational oceanography can be considered the backbone of Blue Economy: it offers solutions that can support multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals by promoting sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, livelihoods and job creation. Given this strategic challenge, the community worldwide has started to develop science-based and user-oriented downstream services and applications that use ocean products as provided by forecasting systems as main input. This paper gives an overview of the stakeholder support tools offered by such applications and includes sea state awareness, oil spill forecasting, port services and fishing and aquaculture, among others. Also emphasized is the important role of ocean literacy and citizen science to increase awareness and education in these critical topics. Snapshots of various applications in key world ocean regions, within the framework of the OceanPrediction DCC, are illustrated, with emphasis given on their level of maturity. Fully operational examples can be used as inspiration for export to other areas.