RioMar: better understanding for better protection, a prime testing ground for FAIR2Adapt
Coastal areas are strategic zones, but they are also particularly vulnerable to climate change: sea-level rise, storms, and heatwaves. To better protect them, it is essential to understand their dynamics and share this knowledge with those involved in decision-making.
This is the objective of the RiOMar project, which since 2022 has been studying five French coastal regions where rivers and the ocean interact. In parallel, the European project FAIR2Adapt transforms these data into open, reusable resources to support climate change adaptation.
RiOMar, studying complex environments
At the interface between freshwater and seawater, coastal environments evolve rapidly and remain difficult to observe and anticipate.
To address this challenge, RiOMar relies on three complementary pillars:
- The digital twin, which simulates the evolution of ocean parameters across different timeframes (the recent past, the near future, and the distant future).
- Multi-platform observation, combining robots, fixed stations, and satellites to better capture extreme events.
- Co-construction with managers, in order to produce results that are directly useful for territories.
A case study for FAIR2Adapt
FAIR2Adapt is grounded in the FAIR principles: making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Due to the diversity of the data produced, RiOMar constitutes a particularly relevant experimental framework.
The project has thus become FAIR2Adapt’s Case Study No. 2, with a focus on the Bay of Biscay, a region where major coastal challenges converge, linked to the influence of the Gironde River, summer stratification, and storms.
Where does the project stand?
The FAIRification of data is progressing, observations are being finalised, and workshops with environmental managers are helping to refine scenarios.
The next key milestone will be the FAIR2Adapt General Assembly, to be held at the end of March in Vienna (Austria), providing an opportunity to share project progress and strengthen collaborations around FAIR solutions for climate change adaptation.
A key issue for the future of coastal areas
By combining scientific observation, future scenarios, and open data, RiOMar and FAIR2Adapt are laying the foundations for sustainable adaptation of coastal areas. The ambition is for the project’s data and results to sustainably inform coastal management and adaptation strategies across Europe, well beyond the project’s duration.
To learn more, visit the project website: https://riomar.lsce.ipsl.fr/