OceanPrediction for Costa Rica Workshop 25-27 March 2026

This week, the OceanPrediction DCC team heads to San Jose, Costa Rica from the 25-27th of March to begin the first workshop of a workshop series that looks at ocean observation to practical application in decision-making. These events are part of the project Ocean Prediction for Costa Rica (OP4CR), implemented by Mercator Ocean International with the support of the European Union. The team will begin to look at applications and services based on ocean prediction that address end users and their specific needs. This will allow progress toward more technical levels (models and observations) in the following workshops, with a clear understanding of what kind of information and tools are needed to support those applications.

The overall objective of this workshop series is to gather feedback from national and regional stakeholders to guide the final report of recommendations. The results of these activities will not entail any commitment to implementation or development but are intended to identify the ocean forecasting services and applications required, as well as the models and observations needed to support them. The outcomes will enable Costa Rica and the wider region to unlock the potential of ocean prediction across diverse sectors, ranging from coastal protection to resource management.

The ocean data value chain describes the path that information follows from observation to its practical use in decision-making. In OP4CR-2, this logic will be inverted: the process will begin with the end users and their specific needs moving backwards toward the technical components that enable those applications. This approach will ensure a clear understanding of what information and tools/services are required to support each stage.

 

In practice, this means that:

  • Workshop 1 will focus on identifying priority applications and services, as well as the marine management areas that could benefit from ocean prediction.
  • Workshop 2 will address the technical needs associated with the development of applications, model systems, and forecasting capacities required to support them.
  • Workshop 3 will define which observations, data infrastructures, and management systems should be developed or improved to feed those models.

The workshops do not imply immediate implementation commitments but aim to:

  • Identify which ocean forecasting services the country requires and what would be necessary to develop them.
  • Determine which models and observations would support those services.
  • Build a shared vision among businesses, institutions, scientists, and users.

A summary of the scope and expected participant profiles is presented below.

Applications for Decision-Making

The first workshop aims to explore how decision-support tools based on ocean prediction data, such as the monitoring tool (dashboard) developed in OP4CR-1 for Cocos Island, can contribute to marine planning, biodiversity conservation, fisheries management, coastal disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation.

Over three days, the workshop will include international examples of successful applications based on the use of ocean prediction data, allowing national and regional representatives to share their experiences, needs, and challenges, and to facilitate collaborative sessions linking those needs with potential solutions.

The expected outcome is the identification and description of priority applications and identified needs, which will serve as a basis for the recommendations in the final report.