UK TO JOIN EU-LED OCEAN SCIENCE SCHEME OCEANEYE

Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, is to announce that Britain will join OceanEye, a major EU-led ocean science programme, at a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday. The event will be attended by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney. The announcement comes as the government led by Andy Burnham seeks to rebuild the UK's relationship with Europe. As part of the move, Britain will share more data from the Met Office and other agencies with the EU and Canada than it has previously.

OceanEye is a €92m (£78m) initiative the EU launched in June to strengthen its role in ocean observation and provide what it describes as data-backed marine intelligence. The scheme aims to build a digital "real-time" replica of the world's oceans, drawing on satellites, sensors and other models, by 2030, to support decisions on ocean protection and security. The EU has also formed an alliance with Canada under the scheme to address gaps in monitoring of under-observed regions. Ocean observation data feeds into weather and climate forecasting as well as national security, global trade and marine protection, and the move follows warnings that this year's "supersized" El Niño, tracked in the Pacific, will fuel further extreme weather worldwide.

Scientists have warned that the global marine monitoring system, which they say is vital for predicting extreme weather and saving lives, is under strain after the US administration this year threatened to dismantle a substantial share of global ocean observations. Eagle is expected to say that data from ocean monitoring is essential to protecting and restoring the oceans, adding that "we cannot save our oceans if we do not understand them." She is also expected to say that changing weather patterns and currents are fuelling extreme weather already affecting nations through floods, droughts, storms and extreme heat.