The paper, led by Thomas J Webb from Sheffield University, and with various co-authors from the EMODnet Biology consortium, illustrates the challenges in creating and publishing EMODnet Biology data products and the approach used by the thematic lot to standardize procedures, documentation and allow for reproducibility.
The paper introduces several products created within EMODnet Biology and highlights the technical constraints when dealing with biological data, from the lack of clear standards to store biological occurrences in data cubes and the creation of gridded structures from sparse point data, which is not only challenging but also not practical from a user perspective, to name but a few.
The paper also lists potential uses for the thematic lot’s products and a proposed approach of collaboration with relevant stakeholders to co-design new indicators that play to the strengths of the available data (e.g. highly extensive spatial, temporal and taxonomic coverage).
The paper can be accessed via the link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106578