Spanish 
Dutch 
French 
German 
Norwegian Bokmål 
Polish 
Swedish
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), in collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), has completed the installation of a comprehensive monitoring network to assess the environmental health of the Mar Menor. The project, awarded to Adasa Sistemas SAU for €1.22 million, aims to support ongoing scientific research and inform decisions for protecting the lagoon.
The monitoring system is now fully operational and managed by a team of scientists from the Oceanographic Centres of Murcia and the Canary Islands (IEO-CSIC). The system’s design and installation were supervised by this team alongside Daniel Caballero, head of the Demarcación de Costas de Murcia.
The network includes six stations: located in the northern and southern areas of the Mar Menor, on the central platform, at the IEO-CSIC headquarters in Lo Pagán, and at two stations in the Estacio and Marchamalo channels.
The stations in the northern, southern, and central lagoon areas are equipped with solar-powered platforms with batteries for autonomous operation, and they come in two versions (A and B). These platforms feature surface buoys, underwater mountains, and weather stations that measure temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, air density, wind speed, and direction.
The underwater buoys and mountains (submerged platforms with communication, safety, and connection systems) measure temperature, conductivity, pressure, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chlorophyll, and pH levels.
One buoy is also equipped with a spectroradiometer. The station at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in San Pedro del Pinatar will feature an additional weather station.
All monitoring platforms transmit data in real time to a secure cloud-based web service, where it is displayed graphically, with an immediate alert system in place. The contract also includes €229,000 reserved for replacing parts in the event of technical issues.
According to government sources, the network will provide highly accurate, reliable oceanographic data with high temporal resolution. It will complement other ongoing or planned monitoring systems of the lagoon and its surrounding waters.
This multi-source approach ensures the system’s alarm capabilities and diagnostic accuracy are based on the most comprehensive and scientifically sound information available.
Before the installation of this system, monitoring was conducted through manual samplings from boats, which were not able to detect or respond to physical, chemical, or biological anomalies related to issues like eutrophication, phytoplankton blooms, harmful species, anoxia, light limitation, heatwaves, or microbial activity in a timely manner.
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has installed six measuring stations in the Minor Sea. / MITECO
Installation of some of the new measuring buoys in the Minor Sea. / MITECO
Spanish Dutch French German Norwegian Bokmål Polish Swedish
