More than 100,000 new occurrence records have been published by EMODnet Biology in the first data harvest of 2024, including more than 100,000 biodiversity occurrence records, making EMODnet Biology data holdings surpass the 40 million occurrence records threshold.
EMODnet Data Ingestion, in collaboration with EMODnet Thematic Coordinators and the Secretariat, have produced an EMODnet Guidance document on European project data submissions to EMODnet. This is an output from the webinar 'EMODnet for Horizon Europe and Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters' on 28th February 2024, organised by EMODnet, in collaboration with EC DG MARE.
Four short months ago, the EMODnet community gathered in Brussels for the EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree 2023 Re-immerse yourself in the energy and insights of the Conference plenary, panel discussions, townhalls and networking, and get a snapshot of EMODnet’s rich and diverse network and valued stakeholders, all in the newly released EMODnet OC 2023 highlights video! This video complements the Conference Report that was released earlier this year. The Conference Virtual Exhibition remains open until November 2024.
EMODnet experts from across the network will be in Barcelona for the week-long UN Ocean Decade Conference 2024, 8th-12th April. You will find us in the official Conference exhibition area in a joint booth of EMODnet, Copernicus Marine Service and the Ocean Prediction Decade Coordination Centre, and at numerous side events spanning Digital Twins of the Ocean, Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPS), Ocean Observing, Private sector data sharing, Sea Level Rise and more.
Long-time EMODnet Biology partner, the Marine Biological Association, is offering a 3-day, online introduction to Programming in R course, ideal for anyone wanting to use R for data analysis. They are offering Early Bird Discounts for those booking prior to the end of January and there is a free online talk by the course tutor available on their website.
At the first joint webinar on ‘Data and information management and sharing in the Decade: why, who, what and how?’ co-organised by the Decade Coordination Office for Ocean Data Sharing (DCO-ODS) and IODE on 31 January, Vicente Fernandez (EMODnet Secretariat), highlighted EMODnet as an important regional node contributing to ocean data sharing and interoperability to the global ocean data ecosystem, and its contribution, together with Copernicus Marine Service, to the establishment of the public infrastructure backbone for the European digital representation of the Ocean.
On 28th February 2024, EMODnet hosted a webinar titled “EMODnet for Horizon Europe and EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters.” This invitation-only webinar was attended by over 95 participants representing at least 45 EU projects. Organised by the EMODnet Secretariat, Data Ingestion and thematics, in collaboration with DG MARE and CINEA, the webinar focused on how EMODnet can support European Research and Innovation (R&I) projects, including the use of EMODnet’s marine knowledge in EU R&I, demonstrations of the EMDOnet Data Ingestion workflow, and guidance on how R&I projects can optimize the collection, curation and submission of FAIR data and metadata to EMODnet services, and its large userbase.
Discover the latest insights on how EMODnet's marine data and data product offerings can serve as a foundation for essential ocean knowledge and the crucial role of EMODnet's Data Ingestion service in supporting seamless data submission to both the European and global ocean data ecosystem, at the upcoming “EMODnet for Horizon Europe and EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters projects" webinar on February 28, 2024, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Aimed at representatives of European Horizon Europe and EU Mission Ocean projects collecting in situ marine data, the webinar focuses on streamlining data submission processes, guiding participants in data and metadata collection, and optimizing data flow into EMODnet. For more details and to express your interest in participating, please send an email to: secretariat@emodnet.eu.
Starting in this edition, we are launching a news section dedicated to EMODnet's key role in the European Digital Twin Ocean (DTO). EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service collaborate in the EDITO-Infra project which is upgrading EC marine data services to provide the backbone infrastructure to the EU DTO. At the heart of EDITO-Infra's technical advancements lies the establishment of a comprehensive data lake. This innovative feature seamlessly integrates both EMODnet and Copernicus Marine products. Leveraging cutting-edge, open-source technologies from the cloud computing industry, the data lake offers robust and scalable object storage, coupled with high-performance computing (HPC) resources. This combination is pivotal for enabling on-demand data analysis and the creation of sophisticated 'what-if' scenarios. Stay tuned for more information.
The EDITO initiative, powered by EDITO-Infra, extends an invitation to ocean twinning projects and national initiatives throughout Europe. The primary focus of this initiative is to enhance the capabilities of the European Digital Twin Ocean (EU DTO). Successful participants will have a unique opportunity to showcase their work at the high-level dedicated session during the Digital Ocean Forum 2024.
UNESCO and IUCN have compiled a first-time assessment of the status and trends of species within UNESCO World Heritage sites, revealing specific insights in the species richness of these sites. A number of the marine World Heritage sites are located within European waters, for which EMODnet Biology contributed data.
On 1 December 2023, the EMODnet Steering Committee met in Brussels to exchange on EMODnet operations, strategic partnerships and plan upcoming events and activities in 2024, ranging from the EMODnet webinar for EU Mission and Horizon Europe on 28th February 2024 to EMODnet’s contribution to the UN Ocean Decade Conference 2024 and Digital Ocean Forum 2024. The meeting took place directly after the EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree 2023.
Save the Date for our upcoming webinar designed to help guide EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters and Horizon Europe projects to harmonise and submit their data to EMODnet. The webinar will take place online on 28 February 2024, 11am-12:30pm CET. Join in the dialogue with EMODnet experts on how to optimise your project output. More information and registration to follow soon in January 2024!
EMODnet Biology continuously provides free and open access to marine biodiversity data. The last data publication of 2023 has been completed and EMODnet Biology looks forward to continue collaborations with existing European research infrastructures e.g., EMBRC, LifeWatch, networks, Horizon Europe projects working on the marine biodiversity data pipeline e.g., DTO-Bioflow and MARCO-BOLO and initiatives to make more existing and historical marine biodiversity data available into the future.
EMODnet Biology was invited to provide expert input to a G7 Future of the Seas and Oceans Initiative (FSOI) workshop in September 2023 (work ongoing) entitled “Towards a global marine plankton observing network: development of a strategy and implementation plan”. The main tasks were in Goal 2: “Unlocking plankton data: enhancing interoperability and fairness for comprehensive plankton data analysis, ecological understanding, and forecasting “, and EMODnet Biology led a discussion on the interoperability between dataspaces.
The 7 thematic Coordinators of EMODnet then presented the latest EMODnet service offer, which includes pan-European data and data products across hundreds of parameters spanning the marine environment, namely bathymetry, biology, chemistry, geology, physics and seabed habitats, and human activities at sea. Finally, a Panel including wider stakeholders discussed the value of EMODnet, including perspectives from the Copernicus Marine Service, Regional Sea Conventions, the private sector, EU Member States, EMODnet associated partners and the winner of the EMODnet Open Sea Lab 3.0 Hackathon, and more.
The Open Conference 2023 Closing Session began with a speech by Delilah Al Khudhairy, Director of Maritime Policy and Blue Economy, EC DG MARE, who noted that “EMODnet has been one of the most important investments of DG MARE…We will move forward together” . A Panel of 7 experts from the EMODnet stakeholder community exchanged on EMODnet’s achievements to-date and looked to the future of EMODnet and its evolution. Kate Larkin, Head of EMODnet Secretariat then presented an EMODnet Call to Action on behalf of the EMODnet Partnership (see article above).
Before the plenary stage opened for the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, the EMODnet community convened for the EMODnet Partner Jamboree 2023—an exclusive gathering of EMODnet partners and Associated Partners. This pre-conference event was attended by > 150 representatives of the EMOD-network and provided a unique setting for in-depth discussions, partner meetings, cross-thematic dialogues, and collaborative endeavors, setting the stage for the subsequent conference. Topics of discussion spanned EMODnet and Citizen Science, EMODnet Communication, EMODnet and the EU Digital Twin Ocean, and EMODnet content evolution, ranging from the coast to the deep sea and from the surface ocean to the seafloor, including ideas for new cross-thematic data products. A Partnership Dinner on 28th November evening included speeches by Kestutis Sadauskas, Deputy Director-General EC DG MARE and Kate Larkin, Head of the EMODnet Secretariat.
To complement the EMODnet Open Conference 2023 on-site meeting and physical exhibition, a Virtual Exhibition was produced by the EMODnet Secretariat and Coordinators. contains many resources and updates on EMODnet thematic and data ingestion services, key partnerships spanning business to ocean observation and from EU to global, EMODnet videos and other communication outputs, the European Atlas of the Seas and community posters solicited and submitted specifically for the Open Conference 2023. This was showcased in Plenary during the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, just before community poster pitch presentations. The Virtual Exhibition remains open for 1 year until 30 November 2024. You can see the full EMODnet Virtual Exhibition by clicking on the button below.
The EMODnet Open Conference 2023 included a physical exhibition which served as a dynamic hub during networking breaks, showcasing EMODnet and key European and international ocean observation networks and infrastructures, marine data services and wider marine data initiatives.
