European Marine Observation and Data Network | EMODnet

Late March 2023, EMODnet was officially endorsed as a Decade Implementing Partner of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, further strengthening its role in supporting Global Ocean Marine Data activities and consolidating its engagement and commitment to the Ocean Decade. As an Implementing Partner, together with its partners, collaborators and network of experts, EMODnet will undertake and support a range of support actions and initiatives to promote the findability, transparency, accessibility and interoperability of ocean data and information, essential to underpin the generation of the knowledge we need to achieve sustainable ocean management at the local, regional and global level.

EMODnet Ingestion has started tackling a new challenge, dedicating specific efforts to improving and documenting the availability of data provided for coastal and offshore licensing. The objective is to identify and engage with public authorities that receive data from licensing procedures for coastal or offshore activities, with a particular focus on aquaculture and offshore energy, to obtain more information on the management of monitoring data, to promote the use of common standards, and to start a path towards a more harmonised approach, through a workshop.

EMODnet Biology reached the end of its Phase IV work cycle which resulted in more data being freely and openly available via the portal: users are now able to access to more than 40 Million occurrence records on various taxa distributed in European Seas and beyond.

The product, developed by the University of Sheffield, extends the EMODnet macrobenthos presence-absence product to map changes in macrobenthic communities over time, measured as species loss and gain and beta diversity.

On 18 April, the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, scientific coordinator of EMODnet Chemistry, presented progress made on ocean acidification data at the 5th International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Ocean - ECCWO5 The annual event, held in Bergen, Norway from 17-21 April, brought together experts from around the world to better understand the impacts of climate change on ocean ecosystems, the ecosystem services they provide, and the people, businesses and communities that depend on them.

Thanks to the collaboration between data providers across Europe, EMODnet Ingestion and EMODnet Chemistry, six organisations from six countries have become champions in providing datasets, as well as in sharing and saving them forever: the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Georgia, Italy and Romania. This is reported by EMODnet Chemistry in its collection of success stories with EMODnet Ingestion. The latest update was presented during the 1st Annual EMODnet Ingestion Phase III Progress Meeting, held on 12-13 April 2023 in Larnaca, Cyprus.

On 30 March EMODnet Physics together with SMHI, marine sensor developers, citizen science initiatives, TransEurope Marinas and other international organizations and institutes attended Chalmers Filling Coastal Data Gaps - Let's Do it Ourselves!". The activity is a marine citizen science low-code, low-cost sensor course for 110 2nd year Industrial Economics MSc students at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, running throughout spring 2023.

The Second International Ocean Data Conference (IODC-II) entitled “The Data We Need for the Ocean We Want” took place on 20 and 21 March 2023 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The Conference focused on the implementation of commitments and main recommendations for ocean data and information management identified at IODC-I. The Conference was attended by 160 participants on site and 296 online - including many representatives from EMODnet - and provided a platform for the global ocean data community to present new solutions to existing barriers and challenges as well as opportunities in the area of oceanographic data and information management and exchange.

As part of the GOOS OCG-14 Meeting, the OCG, AtlantOS team together with EMODnet Physics is hosting a low-cost technology workshop that will focus on available technologies, their applications and on opportunities to ensure collected ocean data is FAIR.

The Ocean Race, the most extraordinary and toughest around-the-world regatta involving more than 2 million visitors in the past edition, is gearing up for June's Grand Finale in Genoa, Italy. ETT is supporting the race with a technical partnership and as part of the sponsorship, in collaboration with EMODnet Physics and Ingestion partners and sister projects (NAUTILOS, SOCHIC, OCEAN:ICE, EuroSea and others) is organizing “Ocean Data Hours” dedicated to sustainability, data FAIRness, cooperation. The program will propose events, roundtables and workshops that will lead to the Ocean Data Week.

EU Green Week is an annual event promoting European environmental policies, educating the public, and stimulating discussions. Policymakers, prominent environmentalists, stakeholders, and interested parties from Europe and the world attend this high-level event organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Environment.

The event will be an opportunity to witness the political commitments of the Mediterranean countries towards the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters (europa.eu) and to present the actions and initiatives which contribute to the Mission objectives that may be scaled up and replicated in other sea basins.

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