Since 2009, Mercator Ocean has significantly contributed to the leadership of European operational oceanography, especially in the context of the Copernicus programme.
COPERNICUS is the European Earth observation and monitoring programme (formerly called GMES/Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). This is one of the two major European programmes along with GALILEO.
It aims to:
- give the European Union autonomous and operational capability in space-based observation facilities (see the Sentinel missions) and in situ (measurements in the atmosphere, in the ocean and on the ground),
- operate six interlinked environmental monitoring services for the oceans, the atmosphere, territorial development, emergency situations, security and climate change.