The AIR Centre’s Executive Director, Miguel Miranda, participated in the International Conference on Sustainable Fishing and Aquaculture (CIPAS 2025) in Luanda, Angola, showcasing the application of Copernicus Earth Observation data to enhance ocean monitoring and support fisheries operations in Angolan waters.
Organized by Angola’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources under the theme “Responsible Fishing and Sustainable Aquaculture: A Challenge, a Commitment, a Mission Uniting the Nation,” the two-day conference brought together national and international experts to foster dialogue on sustainable fisheries.
On November 5, Miguel Miranda presented “Integration of Copernicus Data into the INIPM Portal: Supporting Ocean Monitoring and Fisheries Operations” as part of the Science, Data and Ocean Monitoring panel. His presentation highlighted the AIR Centre’s collaboration with Angola’s National Institute of Fisheries and Marine Research (INIPM) to enhance ocean observation capabilities using advanced satellite data. He also promoted the sea state forecasting service supported by the AIR Centre, which provides real-time data on significant wave height, peak period, currents, temperature, salinity, and elevation for Angola’s coastal waters – essential parameters for safe and efficient fisheries operations. This service is now fully accessible via INIPM’s official portal.
By integrating Copernicus data into local monitoring systems, the AIR Centre is supporting Angola in strengthening its capacity for evidence-based fisheries management and ocean surveillance, bridging Earth Observation technology with practical applications for ocean sustainability.
The conference was opened by José de Lima Massano, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, who emphasized Angola’s commitment to the National Development Programme 2023-2027 and the National Strategy for the Sea of Angola 2030, aligning with the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the African Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050.
The AIR Centre’s participation in CIPAS 2025 reinforces its commitment to supporting sustainable ocean management and fostering international collaboration in marine science across the Atlantic basin.
Summer@LSTS 2020
SUMMER@LSTS 2020 – Introduction to Marine Robotics with applications to ocean observation, underwater archeology and ecosystems mapping – The goal of the course is to provide a comprehensive overview of Marine Robotics with special focus on applications in ocean observation, underwater archeology and ecosystems mapping. There will be an equal emphasis on concepts and on practical applications. There will be 40 hours of lectures and 80 hours of a supervised research project. The course is simultaneously broad, providing a comprehensive overview of Marine Robotics, as well as deep, facilitating access to the open-source LSTS software tool chain and to the LSTS vehicles. The students are encouraged to make an impact in the area!
Summer@LSTS 2020 – Session #5 with Trygve Olav Fossum (NTNU)
Summer@LSTS 2020 continued on August 21st, 2020, 2:30-3:30 PM UTC, with Trygve Olav Fossum, who will discuss his “Experiences using AUVs to do adaptive sampling and autonomy in the Arctic. The climate is changing fast, especially in the Arctic Ocean where sea-ice extent continues to decease. Understanding the effects of the changing climate on the fragile Arctic ecosystem is of utmost importance, as changes in sea-ice cover will have direct consequences on the ecosystem. Over a number of cruises and projects AUVs have been deployed to gather relevant and important scientific information in this regard. The talk will focus on practical aspects of doing AUV operations in the Arctic, as well as the approaches explored for doing autonomous mission planning and execution in this harsh environment.
Summer@LSTS 2020 – Session #4 with Filipe Castro (Texas A&M University)
On August 20th, 2020, 2:15-4:30 PM UTC (short interval by 3:30), Summer@LSTS 2020 had Filipe Castro, who gave a lecture on Archaeology and Engineering. Archaeologists study and try to reconstruct past human activity based on the material remains left behind. To interpret and reconstruct habitats, ships, or even small artifacts, archaeologists look at similar behaviors or artifacts or settling patterns of live cultures around the globe, in order to try to understand the contexts they are studying. Because of that, in many countries around the world archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology, not history, as it is in Europe. In any event, archaeologists are anthropologists, because they study the human adventure, which is the very definition of anthropology. But excavating is a very destructive activity. This session is about some of the applications of engineering that are extremely useful to archaeologists.