The Oceanography Center is the Cyprus institution for ocean research and one of the operational marine core and downstream forecasting and monitoring centers in the Mediterranean. The Oceanography Center was established in 2003 following an agreement between the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research of the Ministry of Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment and the University of Cyprus. In early 2008 the Board of Minister of the Cyprus Government approved the consolidation of the Center, while the same period, following the decision of the Senate of the University of Cyprus, the Oceanography Center became a Research Unit within the faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences.
The mission of the Oceanography Center is to conduct basic and applied research in the fields of ocean physics and dynamics, remote sensing, operational oceanography, biological and chemical oceanography and dedicated ocean and marine data and metadata bases and information systems, etc.
The Oceanography Centre developed and operates the operational Cyprus Coastal Ocean Forecasting and Observing System (CYCOFOS), which constitutes one of the ocean forecasting and observing system of relevant European and Mediterranean operational oceanographic forecasting and observing networks. The Oceanography Center has also developed and maintain an online marine database, the Cyprus Oceanographic Online Database (BYTHOS), for browse and search scientific metadata and data information about the Eastern Mediterranean.