“No part of the oceans has escaped the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.” This is one of the points emphasized by Pierre Bahurel, Director-General of Mercator Ocean International (the International Organization for Ocean Analysis and Forecasting), in an interview with the Athens–Macedonian News Agency.

Mr. Bahurel leads the global effort for the digital monitoring and forecasting of the oceans through the European Digital Twin of the Ocean, a platform developed for the European Union that digitally represents every detail of the world’s oceans. As he notes, what they are observing are “particularly urgent challenges in EU waters.” He also analyzes the regions that worry the scientific community the most, with the Mediterranean emerging as one of the planet’s hotspots. “In June 2025, the Mediterranean basin recorded the hottest June ever observed, with surface temperatures reaching 30 °C, nearly 5 °C above normal, and 62% of its surface affected by strong or extreme marine heatwaves — the highest percentage ever recorded,” he emphasizes.

Referring to the contribution of science to the study of the oceans, Mr. Bahurel stresses that “science allows the ocean to speak for itself through transparent and reliable data.” He also discusses the use of artificial intelligence in ocean monitoring and talks about cooperation with Greece and the Greek scientific community. “Greece is in many ways a pioneer in Europe when it comes to the development of artificial intelligence, making it one of the key contributors to modern oceanography,” he notes.

Finally, he speaks about the transformation of Mercator Ocean International into an intergovernmental organization that will lead the global development of advanced digital services for the oceans.

It is noted that Mr. Bahurel, as part of the Science Festival 2025 organized by the French Institute of Greece in collaboration with the French Embassy, will participate in a discussion tomorrow, Monday, at 19:00, on the topic “Artificial Intelligence in the Service of the Oceans.”