This virtual workshop, co-organized and led by the non-profit organisation HUB Ocean and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) in its role as coordinator of the Ocean Decade, aims to define potential use cases that will explore the sharing of industry-owned ocean data with the ocean research community to improve ocean models and science. The workshop will take place on 22-23 November 2022 and will convene a dozen scientific partners working in the ocean-climate modelling domain. It will contribute to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development addressing Ocean Decade Challenge #5, which aims to “enhance understanding of the ocean-climate nexus and generate knowledge and solutions to mitigate, adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change across all geographies and at all scales.”
Biology
On 20-21 October 2022, EMODnet together with EC DG MARE organised a workshop on “EMODnet marine data for the offshore renewable energy sector in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea”. The workshop was attended by over 80 offshore renewable energy experts with representatives from diverse sectors including research, policy, marine data services and non-governmental agencies. EMODnet was well represented thematic experts from geology, seabed habitats, bathymetry, chemistry, human activities, Data Ingestion, Central Portal and the EMODnet Secretariat. The agenda included a demonstration of the latest EMODnet services, use cases of how the offshore renewable energy sector uses EMODnet data and data products, and dialogues on data requirements and data sharing. This workshop was the second in a series, with the first workshop focusing on the Northeast Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea.
The report and presentations are now available from a Coastal workshop convened by EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service on 22nd September 2022. The meeting brought together experts from the Copernicus Marine Service, EMODnet, European Commission DG Defis, DG MARE and CINEA. Discussions focused on the latest coastal marine data and data products offered by each service, existing gaps and requirements for future evolution, synergies and alignments across data services and with wider European and global initiative. The agenda, minutes and presentations are available on the EC Maritime Forum.
The EMODnet Biology team is happy to announce the successful outcome of its initiative to engage volunteers to rescue a selection of identified historical biological data using citizen science platforms. The data rescued through the DoeDat platform (a platform developed, hosted and maintained at the Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium) was digitised by 4 volunteers. The data rescued via Zooniverse (the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research) involved 14 volunteers. The volunteers' efforts are highly appreciated. Following the digitisation, data managers will process, quality control and reformat the data so that it follows the same standards as any other biodiversity dataset published via EMODnet Biology. A full report will be published shortly. The lessons learned will be used in the future in assessing a large-scale initiative to engage volunteers in data rescue efforts.
Applications to the Call for Decade Actions No. 04/2022 are now open. The Call is an invitation for worldwide partners to request endorsement for transformative Decade Actions that can contribute to the Ocean Decade vision on Challenge 6 – Coastal Resilience and on Challenge 8 – Digital Representation of the Ocean. Details are available on the Ocean Decade website's dedicated webpage.
Over the past couple of years EMODnet Biology has been focusing on the development of R packages that allow users to access EMODnet data via OGC webservices. These are now publicly available.
On 22 September the second EMODnet-Copernicus Marine Thematic workshop on Coastal issues took place, two years after the first workshop in June 2020. The meeting brought together EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service experts together with inter-DG representation from the European Commission and CINEA. The workshop focused on dialogue between the two EU marine data services EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service with a specific focus on the coastal area. Existing capabilities and emerging areas for collaboration across EMODnet themes and between EMODnet and Copernicus Marine were assessed, and concrete joint contributions to European (e.g. EU DTO, Green Deal) and global (UN Ocean Decade) initiatives/strategies were defined. A report will follow on the EC Maritime Forum.
In the summer, EMODnet Biology contributed to the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) August-22 Flash news, highlighting work towards EMODnet standards and a book published in 2022 on “Ocean Science Data” to which many EMODnet thematic Coordinators, Secretariat and wider experts contributed.
Two citizen science digitisation projects were set up during the summer and the results are coming in. The EMODnet Biology citizen science project available through the DoeDat platform is underway. The initial project has been digitised by four citizen scientists. The data management team at VLIZ is now in the process of reformatting and quality controlling the data so that it can be published. In late August, another citizen science project was made available via the platform Zooniverse Once the work is completed by the citizen scientists, the data management team at HCMR will proceed with the reformatting and quality control ahead of data publication. Keep an eye out for further updates and more projects of this type during the coming months.
Wish to know more about EMODnet and its results? 2021 saw the beginning of a new era. Download the EMODnet Annual Report 2021 to learn about the main achievements, key facts and figures, partnerships, new products and services, the EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree 2021, wider events and much more!
EMODnet Biology will be presenting the regional (European) perspective to the International cooperation and coordination in advancing ocean observing at the 22nd UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea meeting (6 - 12 June 2022) and addressing related challenges discussion topic.
The EMOD-network has embraced the ongoing #MakeEUBlue campaign of the EU4Ocean European Ocean Literacy Coalition, with pledges from each of the seven thematics, data ingestion, the EMODnet Secretariat and European Atlas of the Seas. The full pledges are being promoted during April and May 2022 via @EMODnet on Twitter, in the weeks leading up to the EU4Ocean Summit on 20 May in Ravenna, Italy, as part of European Maritime Day 2022. Read all the pledges already on the EMODnet website and find out how to become a EU4Ocean Platform member.
The EMODnet partnership held its 16th EMODnet Steering Committee and 11th Technical Working Group meetings between 26-28th April 2022. The hybrid meetings brought together more than 40 experts with representatives from the EMODnet secretariat, Central Portal, Data Ingestion and EC convening in Ostend - where the EMODnet Secretariat offices are based – together with a large online participation of EMODnet Coordinators and Technical experts from across Europe.
The #OceanChallenge4Africa online hackathon aims to tackle ocean challenges in the coastal and marine regions of Africa and to pool African energies to grasp opportunities offered by the ocean. It is organized by Mercator Ocean International, IOC Africa and Garage48; and supported by the EU’s Copernicus Marine Service and Segal Family Foundation. It is further held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme GEMS Ocean, GEO Blue Planet and the African Group on Earth Observations (AfriGEO). The deadline for idea submission and team formation is 22 March 2022.
EMODnet Biology partners assembled virtually from 28 February to 3 March 2022 for an intensive workshop to develop innovative data products using EMODnet data. They worked collaboratively to develop brand new products (e.g., modelling the distribution of an invasive seaweed) and to significantly improve previous products (e.g., expanding the product on the presence and absence of benthic species to cover all European waters). More focus was placed on changes in Europe’s marine biodiversity through time. They also ran sessions led by two data science experts on good practice in data product development, including tips on a range of methods and techniques to improve the reproducibility and documentation of EMODnet Biology’s products.
Ocean-based industries and conservation organisations are working towards 2030 targets to reduce harmful practices and restore ocean health. The summit will assess whether the targets are ambitious enough, and what policymakers, industry, and investors should do to achieve them.
The EMOD-PACE (EMODnet PArtnership for China and Europe) project is a collaborative pilot initiative between core implementors of the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) and the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS) of China. It aims to promote effective international ocean governance and support the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources.
EMOD-PACE is currently organising a survey to obtain feedback from users and stakeholders interested in marine data and information covering the study area on the usefulness and relevance of the project’s activities, its outputs and provided tools/services. This will help the project partners to (i) gain insight into the effectiveness of the project towards reaching its objectives; (ii) gauge the general appreciation of the outputs and activities by users and stakeholders; and (iii) to help identify areas of possible improvement and/or further action.
Did you know that the EMODnet Open Conference virtual exhibition is still open for the public? The exhibition, set up for the EMODnet Open Conference in June 2021 takes the user through an informative journey of the past decade of EMODnet achievements, the latest state-of-the-art in in situ marine data services, key partnerships at EU and global levels – including with the ocean observation community, and EMODnet’s increasing win-win collaborations with the Blue Economy and Business sectors. There is information on the diverse activities of EMODnet, you can visit the gallery of community posters and get informed on related initiatives such as European Atlas of the Seas. The virtual exhibition closes in Spring 2022.
The Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022 ("Come Together and Connect") will focus on the importance of strong pilina for the ocean science community. Pilina means connection, relationship, and association and is an important value in Hawaiian culture that encourages inclusivity and collaborations to achieve results that cannot be accomplished with one person alone. EMODnet will be actively contributing to a number of sessions including the scientific session: "OD11 The uptake of data by citizen scientists, aggregators and end-users: successes, challenges and gaps in the dataflow".
The 6th edition of the EU Datathon, the annual EU open data competition, includes four challenges.
The finals will take place on 20 October 2022.