Oceancast platform, is a novel system adapted to modern coastal zone management challenges. The Oceancast is the first system for monitoring marine and atmospheric conditions in real-time, operated by a Municipality. It collects and visualize real-time marine and atmospheric data and forecasts from a) international databases (e.g., Copernicus, EMODnet and NOAA platforms), b) deployed marine and meteorological monitoring stations, and c) oceanographic, biogeohemical etc model results. The collected data is transferred to a cental server of the Democritus University of Thrace for further processing, analysis, production of statistical indicators and visualization, to continuously inform citizens, as well as the authorities responsible for the coastal zone management of the area of North Aegean.

The Oceancast is able to effectively contribute to addressing the coastal zone management problems faced by the North Aegean areas, such as:

• the coastal erosion, especially at the coasts of high tourist interest,
• the appearance of eutrophication and the excessive growth of phytoplankton in the sea,
• the occurrence of extreme storms, transporting large amounts of wave energy to the coastline, causing damage to coastal structures,
• the safety of fishers (professionals and amateurs), of maritime passenger transport, but also of tourists who rent leisure boats,
• the upcoming operation of seaplanes at the broader sea area,
• the knowledge of currents to understand the mechanisms of pollutants’ transport, e.g., microplastics, oil spills, etc.

Oceancast is a technologically advanced pilot system, based on the Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics, which will demonstrate the importance and necessity of operational data management and real-time citizen alerting.