Chemistry

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.

The Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) is a United Nations coalition among multiple interested parties who are involved in tackling marine litter pollution.

The GPML platform integrates and provides access to up-to-date and reliable data to guide decision-making to achieve the following target of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, by 2025. Most EMODnet Chemistry data products for marine litter, eutrophication, and contaminants are now integrated in the GPML digital platform. Read the related ‘use case’ to get all details on this new collaboration.

Marine Litter Manager (MLM) is a Python  data  formatting tool for Linux and Windows that has been developed to  generate EMODnet beach litter  and  seafloor  trawlings  litter  formats. This is done following  the EMODnet Chemistry guidelines. EMODnet Chemistry has recently made available the User Manual online through its thematic web portal. The manual enriches the web page dedicated to Marine Litter Manager, where users can also find specific video tutorials, some examples of files and the links to save the tool. The experience gained on the use of MLM during the project called 'International Bottom Trawl Survey in the Mediterranean' (MEDITS) was capitalised in the Manual. In particular, the Manual gives some examples of data file formatting by using the tool as part of this project. While the examples are based on seabed litter data, they also help you understand how Marine Litter Manager can facilitate formatting beach litter data files.

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.

EMODnet Physics supported OGS in the adoption of the ERDDAP technology which enables users to easily download subsets of scientific datasets in common file formats and make graphs and maps.

Many EMODnet thematics, data ingestion and the Secretariat were active as technical advisors and mentors for the Blue-Cloud Hackathon 2022 on 7-9 February. In addition, EMODnet Chemistry experts were involved in the EutroWarn team, which used a small subset from the EMODnet Eutrophication and Acidity time series data for the Northern Adriatic region in the Mediterranean Sea to develop the idea entitled ‘Early Warning System for Severe Eutrophication’. The Blue-Cloud Hackathon brought together nearly 150 participants from a diverse community of marine science practitioners, computer scientists and innovators to test Blue-Cloud's web-based ecosystem of Open Science services and resources to address selected Ocean challenges.

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.

As we do each year at the beginning of a new calendar year, we invite you to take a moment to reflect with us on the previous year, to collectively consider EMODnet’s main achievements of 2021 and look forward to what the coming year will bring for our growing network of data providing partners, implementers and users. This is a good time to do so as a lot of progress has been made over the past few years and more is on the horizon, as new vision objectives will drive EMODnet to adapt to the evolving needs of those who rely upon the resources and services we provide.