A user consultation meeting took place on 21 and 22 February 2019 in Frascati, Italy, to prepare a roadmap for new initiatives on ocean circulation research and applications to be implemented in the ESA EO (Earth Observation) Science for Society programme element.

The world's ocean circulation is the engine allowing energy, heat, momentum, chemicals and floating materials ranging from living resources to marine pollution to be transported over large distance around the Earth. The accurate knowledge of ocean circulation at all time and space scales is becoming increasingly important to many scientific, operational and commercial applications.

The objectives of the event were:

• To review the state-of-the-art in ocean circulation products and applications;
• To assess the potential of the increasing observation capacity offered by satellites and their synergetic use to advance our understanding and monitoring of the ocean upper layer circulation;
• To bring together expert scientists, service providers and direct users to discuss and agree on a number of key requirements for research and development activities that may address the science and applications needs of a wide range of users;
• To exchange on the existing gaps, define priorities and issue recommendations for shaping a new ESA world ocean circulation from space project and other initiatives to be implemented in the ESA EO Science for society programme element.

Visit the World Ocean Circulation User Consultation Meeting website to learn more about the event.