On 14 November 2024, Dick M.A. Schaap, EMODnet Ingestion Coordinator, represented EMODnet on a panel on Hydrospatial-Advancing Blue Economy at the GeoBuiz Summit Europe. Topics included showcasing EMODnet’s data, data products and services that are very relevant for the Blue Economy, and for which EMODnet has a high user-demand.
How much has the European Union invested in blue careers? Which countries received the most funding to support their sustainable blue economy? Now, there's an easy way to find out! A newly launched project portfolio dashboard and webpage, available on CINEA’s website, provide comprehensive insights into European projects funded under the EMFF (until 2021) and EMFAF. Covering a wide range of blue economy sectors, from fisheries science to coastal tourism, the tool offers a clear and accessible overview of key data, including project lists, country maps, EU contributions, beneficiaries, project summaries, partners, dates, and budgets. Unveiled as part of the #10yearsEMFAF celebrations, this resource showcases the incredible impact of these projects. Visit the dashboard Explore the project portfolio
Mark your calendars for the 4th edition of the EMODnet Open Sea Lab (OSL) Hackathon, happening online from 25 to 27 March 2025. The hackathon builds on the last 3 successful editions, with one key difference: In addition to using EMODnet services, participants will be given unparalleled access to the EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service offer via the European Digital Twin Ocean infrastructure (EDITO). This is a very exciting time for marine digital services, and we invite all interested stakeholders, from data scientists to IT specialists and from policy makers to researchers, students and the private sector to join EMODnet in this unique hackathon - Stay tuned for more details, coming soon!
Join the International Association of Port Cities (AIVP) World Conference, 27-29 November in Lisbon, Portugal where global port cities and maritime professionals will gather to discuss the future of sustainable port operations. During the AIVP World Conference, Antonio Novellino (EMODnet Physics Coordinator) will present on EMODnet, highlighting the critical role of data sharing and collaboration in advancing maritime and port sustainability. EMODnet provides access to a wealth of oceanographic data, e.g. EMODnet Physics includes parameters such as sea temperature, salinity, currents, waves, and sea level. It will be an important opportunity to encourage the AIVP community—comprising global port cities, maritime professionals, and stakeholders committed to sustainable development—to contribute to and utilize EMODnet's extensive data resources. By engaging this community, the presentation aims to foster stronger partnerships and enhance the use of open data for more sustainable and resilient port operations. This event is a prime opportunity to explore innovative solutions, network with industry leaders, and engage in discussions that will shape the future of maritime sustainability.
Geospatial World Forum 2025 invites geospatial professionals to share insights, projects, and ideas with a global audience. As a speaker at #GWF2025, you’ll connect with industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers, inspiring change in geospatial technology. Submit your abstract by 15 November 2024, for programs on: • User Focus: AEC, Health, ESG, Utilities, Agriculture, Business Intelligence • Data and Economy: Geospatial & Hydrospatial Infrastructure, Blue Economy • Technical Session: PNT & GNSS, HD Mapping, LiDAR, UAVs, Data Science. Find out more information and submit here.
On 22 October 2024, more than 70 experts gathered for an EMODnet online workshop titled “EMODnet Marine Data for Ports, Marinas, and Boating.” The event was co-designed with key stakeholder networks from these Blue Economy sectors, including the European Boating Industry, TransEurope Marinas and the European Sea Port Organisation, in collaboration with the EC DG MARE and CINEA.
Join us on 22 October 2024 for the EMODent for Business online workshop "Marine data for ports, marinas and boating". The workshop will demonstrate the EMODnet service for the ports, marinas and boating industry sectors including how these Blue Economy sectors can further use and benefit from EMODnet, together with opportunities for data sharing.
The workshop is by invitation only. To express interest to attend, please contact: emodnet4business@emodnet.eu
Join us on 22 October 2024 for the EMODnet for Business online workshop "Marine data for ports, marinas and boating". The workshop will demonstrate the EMODnet service for the ports, marinas and boating industry sectors including how these Blue Economy sectors can further use and benefit from EMODnet, together with opportunities for data sharing. Participants will discover the potential of EMODnet services and will be able to engage in in cross-regional dialogue and exchanges with participants from all European sea basins. The workshop is by invitation only. To express interest to attend, please contact: emodnet4business@emodnet.eu
EMODnet is thrilled to announce and welcome two new Associated Partners to the EMOD-network, namely Van Oord and savvy navvy. Both organisation bring unique expertise and a strong commitment to advancing collaboration with EMODnet in the areas of data sharing, best practices in marine data, information technology and data services, and expanding the users of EMODnet, including for the Blue Economy.
In July 2024 EMODnet launched a 2-month public consultation for the EMODnet Vision 2035. The consultation is open to all EMODnet stakeholders and the broader community, both in Europe and globally. Whether you are responding as an individual, organization, network, project, or initiative, your input is valuable. Have your say before 11 September 2024 Midnight CEST!
On 3 July 2024 from 2:00-3:00 PM CEST, BLUEMISSIONAA will host the Atlantic & Arctic Weekly Hour featuring the European Digital Twin Ocean (EDITO). In this webinar, Dr. Conor Delaney, European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), will showcase the successful centralization of EMODnet and demonstrate how to find and download the data products of EMODnet. In addition, the role of EMODnet in the European Digital Twin Ocean infrastructure project (EDITO-Infra) will be described and attendees will get an understanding of what functionalities are available. EDITO-Infra is a joint EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service project to publish their respective data products on a common Data Lake that will provide fast, robust and scalable data access and computation and can be used for building Digital Twins of the Ocean.
EMODnet’s vessel density maps have received their yearly update. The time series now covers the full period 2017-2023. Released for the first time in 2019, vessel density maps are one of the most popular EMODnet’s data product. The maps report vessel density per square kilometre per month and are broken down by ship type, available for viewing and download on the EMODnet Portal. The maps are created based on a bespoke method developed by the EMODnet team, which is made available on the Portal and has quickly become a de facto standard in the literature, being used by organisations and researchers from all over Europe and beyond. The vessel density maps are updated every year with data from the year before. With the latest update in 2024, the time series available on EMODnet covers the entire period from 2017 and 2023, thus making it possible to have historical comparisons of the evolution of ship traffic.
Join us on 22 October 2024 for the EMODent for Business online workshop "Marine data for ports, marinas and boating". The workshop will demonstrate the EMODnet service for the ports, marinas and boating industry sectors including how these Blue Economy sectors can further use and benefit from EMODnet, together with opportunities for data sharing. The workshop is by invitation only. To express interest to attend, please contact: emodnet4business@emodnet.eu
EMODnet participated in the JPI Oceans Strategic Navigation Forum 2024, held on 11 June at the Comic Arts Museum in Brussels. This high-level event brought together stakeholders from the national, regional and European levels to discuss marine and maritime priorities post-2025. EMODnet experts are involved in a number of JPI activities including the JPI-Oceans and JPI-Climate Knowledge Hub for Sea-Level Rise, which will deliver the first European Sea-Level Rise Assessment later in 2024, and a new Knowledge Hub on Blue Carbon. EMODnet’s Head of Secretariat Kate Larkin emphasized the opportunity of using EMODnet and the European Digital Twin Ocean for integrated ocean knowledge and future marine and maritime decision-support tools. The event also discussed the importance of viewing ocean observation and marine data services not as costs but as crucial investments with significant returns on investment (ROI).
The forum featured a plenary session with keynote addresses from leaders in marine and maritime research, followed by expert-led discussion panels and brainstorming, which will all be used to inform JPI-Oceans future agendas.
For more details about the forum you can visit the JPI Oceans website
On Monday, 17 June 2024, the European Marine Board (EMB) hosted a Brown Bag Lunch focused on marine habitat mapping to meet biodiversity, conservation, and restoration objectives. This event also marked the launch of EMB's Future Science Brief No. 11 on 'Marine Habitat Mapping.' The Future Science Brief was developed by the EMB Working Group on Marine Habitat Mapping, which includes several EMODnet Seabed Habitats experts.
Sebastian Mieruch and Reiner Schlitzer from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) presented the Ocean Data View (ODV) software and its online version, i.e. webODV, to the EMODnet Chemistry Board of experts on the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive in a webinar on 31 May. AWI, a regular partner of EMODnet Chemistry since its inception, has been developing the ODV software for three decades and launched the webODV Data Explorer and Extractor in 2016. This provides cutting-edge and flexible tools for users who want to get the most out of EMODnet Chemistry's eutrophication and contaminant data.
On 31 May 2024, EMODnet, the European Blue Economy Observatory (EBEO) and the European Environmental Agency (EEA), co-hosted an engaging workshop titled "Diverse Data Serving EU Policies and the Blue Economy for a Sustainable Future" as part of European Maritime Day (30-31 May 2024) in Svendborg, Denmark.The workshop presented the marine knowledge offer and services of EMODnet, EU-BEO and EEA and discussed the uses of diverse data from the marine environment, human activities at sea and socio-economic data to provide more integrated and holistic ocean knowledge as interoperable data layers that can work together for multiple uses, and as the marine knowledge evidence-base for ocean and wider environmental assessments. A new article with further information on the workshop is now available on the EMODnet Portal.
EMODnet’s coastal and marine Litter data has been used in the REMEDIES Shoreline Marine Litter App co-designed by the Venice Lagoon Plastic Free (VLPF), together with Infordata Sistemi (Italy), developed within the Horizon Europe REMEDIES project. VLPF is a non-profit organization based in Venice (Italy), listed on the National Single Third Sector Registry (RUNTS), the EMODnet data providers list, supporter of the WWF Plastic Smart City Initiative and signatory of the EU Charter Restore our Ocean and Water mission. In the App, EMODnet’s extensive historical marine litter data were used for the pan European marine litter database.
Your Feedback Matters! EMODnet continues to evolve to better serve your needs. Our survey is designed to gather your valuable feedback on our services. Whether you have spotted a technical bug, or you visited to search for the latest data products or use cases, we want to hear from you! Your input is crucial in enhancing our website's user-friendliness and usability. Share your thoughts and help us improve your EMODnet experience by filling out our survey.
EMODnet has published the presentations and minutes of the EMODnet 20th Steering Committee (SC), now available on the EC Maritime Forum. The event took place online on 29-30 April 2024. The open session included the EMODnet SC, Technical Working Group (TWG), and representatives from the EC (multiple DGs) and EU agencies. Key discussions focused on EMODnet’s service evolution, and EMODnet for EU Policy, with a session chaired by Rémy Denos, EC DG MARE and involving DG DEFIS, DG ENV, JRC and EEA, among others. Updates on thematic data, user uptake, and portal developments were presented. The closed session covered the EMODnet communication strategy, use cases, partnerships, and planning for Open Sea Lab 4.0.
