Thanks to dedicated funding for EMODnet and the tireless work of its network of organisations and experts in the field of marine data management, EMODnet Chemistry has grown steadily over the last 15 years, gaining worldwide trust and recognition.
Below you will find the most important achievements of the Chemistry partnership in 2024 with a view to the future.
1. Expanded quantity and quality of data
The number of row datasets has grown from about 1,271,000 to about 1,296,000. They are available in the CDI Data Discovery and Access Service by SeaDataNet, which is an underpinning service of EMODnet Chemistry. This achievement was also possible thanks to the onboarding of a new partner: the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) as the National Oceanographic Data Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany.
These measurements have been used by EMODnet Chemistry to produce aggregated, standardised and validated data collections for eutrophication, ocean acidification and contaminants, including marine litter. For the first year EMODnet Chemistry also produced data collections for eutrophication (nutrients, chlorophyll and oxygen), ocean acidification (alkalinity and pH), and contaminants (heavy metals, hydrocarbons, antifoulants, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides & biocides, and radionuclides) at European level. To search, download, subset and analyse the data collections, go to the EMODnet Chemistry key services and visit the EMODnet Products catalogue or the webODV data Explorer and Extractor tool.
Quality controls have been increased and further simplified. This was also possible thanks to the implementation of new functions in the Ocean Data View (ODV) software, developed by AWI, a historical project partner. In this context, it is worth mentioning that over the years, 8 partners have had the quality of their data management services recognised by the UNESCO International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme Committee or by ISO 9001 certification. In 2024, the National Oceanographic Data Centre at OGS, coordinator of the project, also became an IODE-accredited data centre.
Two events were organised to improve quantity and quality of data. The first one was an on-site training for all data providers to explain how to feed data into the EMODnet Chemistry data discovery and access service of the SeaDataNet infrastructure. The second one was the meeting in Portugal to support national entities in sharing water quality data close to major river mouths.
2. New maps for contaminants and eutrophication
In addition to the 25 maps published in 2023, new maps were created for pollutants in water, biota and sediment. As you can see in the EMODnet Map Viewer, the macro category “Contaminants” is divided into four map categories that provide information on the distribution of sampling stations and concentration values in space and time in all European seas and beyond for the parameters prioritised in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). In particular, the new category “Contaminants in marine organisms” shows the sampling locations with the percentage of data availability for a given pollutant sampled in different animal groups. The map shows the positions for all available years together.
The maps under the new subcategory “Eutrophication (depth and density layers)” show some visualisations that users can easily create with the EMODnet Chemistry WebODV Explorer and Extractor Service.
Read more about what EMODnet’s Chemistry offer can do for you and try it out!
3. Tireless support for environmental policy in Europe and beyond
EMODnet Chemistry has become a major contributor to the data and information sharing provisions of the MSFD by improving the accessibility and interoperability of marine data. This was achieved by the steady engagement with the Regional Sea Conventions, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the EMODnet Chemistry board of experts on the MSFD.
“EMODnet Chemistry plays a crucial role in enabling the uptake of results from monitoring of marine pollution, water quality and the chemical health of European seas, aiding in environmental protection and sustainable marine management. However, even the most comprehensive networks achieve the greatest impact when collaborating with other networks. Data on marine litter, contaminants, and eutrophication submitted to the ICES Data Centre are shared with EMODnet Chemistry through open access licensing and used to strengthen marine policy. By pooling diverse data sets and leveraging each network's unique expertise, we can unlock even more insights and opportunities. This will enable a better understanding of Europe’s seas and oceans.” Neil Holdsworth, ICES
Involvement in the implementation of the MSFD, a global reference point in the fight against marine pollution, has resulted in EMODnet Chemistry being increasingly called upon to share expertise and data beyond European borders. In particular, the partnership provided interoperability with data disseminated by means of non-EU initiatives. These are the international project of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment to harmonise microlitter data, the CoP Chemicals Dimension of the UN Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter and the UN Federated Data System for ocean acidification as part of the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 14.3.1.
EMODnet Chemistry also took part in the international workshop “Monitoring, assessment, prevention of marine litter on seafloor” in China. The Consortium consolidated its collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of the Environment at the international workshop "AOMI Database: Enhancing Ocean Microplastics Monitoring’ and, together with NOAA and UNESCO, organised the International workshop to advance ocean carbon and acidification data management and interoperability in Venice (Italy).
“EMODnet’s work, although focusing on European Union data sources, is very relevant and important to the international discussions and in direct support of the implementation of international agreements. These contributions will continue and will hopefully be expanded in the future years to increase the global marine knowledge base.” Zoi Konstantinou, DG MARE
4. Taking action to pursue Open science principles
Together with all EMODnet themes and the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), EMODnet Chemistry has been at the forefront of providing the data backbone for EDITO: the core infrastructure of the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO) conceived to facilitate the development of digital twin applications. This is the first collaboration between EMODnet and CMEMS that has led to the integration of extensive marine data into a common data lake directly on the cloud.
EMODnet Chemistry has contributed data and know-how to break down barriers between data gateways and develop services for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), the building block to make Open Science the new normal in Europe and beyond. To this end, the project's core partners have been involved in key Horizon Europe projects implementing EOSC, such as Blue Cloud 2026 and FAIR-EASE.
5. EMODnet Chemistry data extensively used
Read what users are saying about EMODnet Chemistry's data, products and services in these use cases published on the EMODnet Portal in 2024.
EMODnet Data in Action: Beach Litter Monitoring App and Venice Lagoon Plastic Free
A simple dashboard for visualising trends in oxygen and nitrate concentrations
EMODnet Marine litter data used to develop and test the first Marine Litter Assessment Tool
Eutrophication climatology to decipher the consequences of climate change in the Adriatic Sea