The event, a new edition of the CSIC’s Cicerón Itineraries, highlighted the institution’s research to improve the resilience and sustainability of these facilities.
The Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) and the Marine Technology Unit (UTM-CSIC) hosted this week the Cicerón Itinerary “Challenges and Solutions for Marine Critical Infrastructures,” a meeting that brought together experts from different fields of marine sciences, along with representatives from the business sector and public administrations.
The event was attended by the CSIC Vice President for Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (VIT), Ana Castro, as well as leading companies such as Red Eléctrica, Telefónica, Repsol, and SECEGSA. Representatives from public administrations included the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya, the Catalan Water Agency, the Ter-Llobregat Water Supply Entity, the Port of Barcelona, and the Directorate-General for Coastal Policies of the Government of Catalonia, as well as Institut Cerdà.
The meeting is part of the CSIC’s Cicerón Itineraries initiative, which aims to bring research closer to socio-economic stakeholders and demonstrate the impact of science on real-world challenges. Through short presentations, infrastructure visits, and discussion sessions, the event enabled the identification of common challenges and the exploration of collaboration opportunities around the safety and sustainability of infrastructures such as ports, submarine cables, and energy platforms.
“The challenge of protecting marine critical infrastructures requires close collaboration between science, industry, and public administrations,” noted Antonio Villaseñor, Deputy Director for Social Impact at ICM-CSIC, and researcher Ruth Durán, who organized the event.
Following the presentations, a discussion took place among attendees to identify the main needs of companies and public administrations regarding marine critical infrastructures, as well as possible avenues for joint collaboration.
Research to anticipate risks in the marine environment
One of the central elements of the event, promoted by the Geosciences Connection and the Converge innovation hub—both driven by CSIC—was the presentation of projects addressing natural and human-induced risks affecting these infrastructures.
Among them, the European project GEoREST, led by Víctor Vilarrasa (IMEDEA-CSIC), presented advances in predicting and mitigating induced seismicity caused by fluid injection into the subsurface. Its results, based on the CASTOR case study, provide new tools to improve operational safety and reduce associated uncertainties.
In coastal environments, the project led by Jorge Guillén (ICM-CSIC) presented research focused on characterizing recent sedimentary cover and coastal dynamics. Using advanced techniques such as high-resolution seismic methods and coastal video monitoring, this work makes it possible to assess the impact of storms and human activities, contributing to the design of more effective strategies to protect infrastructures located along the shoreline.
Similarly, the REMO project, led by Arantza Ugalde (ICM-CSIC), develops innovative methodologies based on distributed acoustic sensing with fiber optics (DAS), combined with advanced signal processing and artificial intelligence techniques, for detecting and analyzing natural and induced seismicity in marine environments. These approaches enable continuous, non-invasive, high-resolution monitoring, overcoming the limitations of traditional systems.
Technology and cooperation for more resilient infrastructures
The event also addressed complex geological risks that may affect marine infrastructures. The BARACA project, led by Gemma Ercilla (ICM-CSIC), presented an innovative approach to studying cascading hazards such as earthquakes, submarine landslides, and tsunamis through integrated land-sea analysis. This approach helps better understand how these phenomena interact and how their effects can be amplified.
Alongside scientific research, the event highlighted the role of large-scale scientific and technical infrastructures supporting science. In this context, the CSIC’s oceanographic fleet was emphasized as a key asset for data acquisition across all oceans, facilitating the study of processes that directly affect marine critical infrastructures. Jordi Sorribas, Director of UTM-CSIC, noted that key challenges include incorporating new technologies, improving energy efficiency, and reducing environmental impact.
Likewise, the management of data from oceanographic campaigns, led by Susana Diez, head of the UTM Data Center and the National Polar Data Center, was presented as an essential infrastructure for managing oceanographic information. Its capacity to collect, standardize, and distribute large volumes of data allows information to be transformed into actionable knowledge for decision-making. The use of big data technologies and open standards ensures data accessibility and reusability.
The Cicerón Itinerary concluded by reaffirming the importance of collaboration between science and society to address the challenges posed by marine critical infrastructures. The combination of scientific knowledge, technological innovation, and dialogue among stakeholders stands out as a key tool to ensure their long-term safety and resilience.