Strengthening coastal monitoring and open data access: new citizen science station in Rimini

The joint action of the Rimini Blue Lab (Municipality of Rimini), the Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience, and the CMCC Foundation continues to advance the shared strategic objective of improving access to scientific information for all. This is pursued through enhanced ocean and coastal monitoring, the promotion of open data, and strengthened collaboration to address existing knowledge gaps.

These efforts are essential to support evidence-based decision-making, particularly in the context of coastal resilience, where timely and reliable data play a critical role.

As part of this ongoing collaboration, a new coastal citizen science station has been installed in Rimini (Italy), to measure key air–sea variables and sea level and providing high‑precision data on water levels. Located at the redeveloped fishing hut at the mouth of the Marecchia River/deviator, serving as an experimental site of the Rimini Blue Lab, the citizen science station collects data which are freely accessible for visualisation and download through the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), marking a significant step towards improving global access to coastal data.

Within this framework, the CMCC Foundation, as a member of the DCC-CR Partner Alliance Network (PAN), has expanded its citizen science initiative through the deployment of monitoring systems that measure essential air–sea variables, including air temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and sea level. These stations are based on the InterBox sensor, developed by CMCC within its strategic programme Global Coasts as a new frontier.

The Rimini Blue Lab has played a key role in coordinating the installation, providing the site and contributing to the development of the initiative. This local engagement is fundamental to ensuring that monitoring activities are effectively integrated within the territory and accessible to the community.

By combining scientific expertise, technological innovation, and local collaboration, this initiative contributes to strengthening coastal observation systems and promoting a more open and inclusive approach to environmental data, in line with the objectives of the UN Ocean Decade.