The EGU 2026 General Assembly in Vienna brought together around 20,000 researchers from across the Earth and environmental sciences — and EMODnet was well represented throughout the week, both on the conference floor and at the EDITO exhibition booth.
On Wednesday 6 May, EMODnet Technical Coordinator Conor Delaney delivered a flash talk at the EDITO booth on the EMODnet–Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) data lake — the shared cloud-based infrastructure powering the European Digital Twin Ocean. The talk showcased how harmonised, FAIR in situ marine data from EMODnet's seven thematic areas is combined with Copernicus Marine satellite and model outputs to create a unified, high-quality data resource for advanced modelling, analysis and next-generation digital ocean applications. The session drew strong interest from the ocean science community, with lively discussion on marine data interoperability and the future of Europe's digital ocean infrastructure.
The EDITO booth itself was a hub of activity across the week — offering live demos of EDITO services, opportunities to explore how the platform supports complex scientific workflows across cloud and HPC environments, and a chance for researchers to discover how to get their own projects up and running on Europe's public Digital Twin Ocean infrastructure.
On the thematic side, EMODnet Geology opened proceedings with three posters in Hall X4, covering harmonised seabed substrate datasets, advances in marine geological data for Europe, and a new hierarchical, machine-readable geomorphology vocabulary for seafloor classification.
The Chemistry and Bathymetry thematics followed with four posters on the Friday evening, covering FAIR vocabulary standards, the SeaDataNet infrastructure which serves EMODnet Bathymetry, FAIR marine data workflows linking seabed integrity to Irish Special Areas of Conservation via EDITO and Destination Earth, and the AQUARIUS project integrating research infrastructures for healthy marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Earlier in the week, a presentation showcased how EMODnet’s infrastructure and harmonised workflows are advancing understanding of eutrophication across European seas, with a demonstration by Horizon Europe project Blue-Cloud 2026 which developed workbenches for Essential Ocean Variables.
Across the week, EMODnet demonstrated how open, standardised and interoperable marine data enables science that could not otherwise happen — from seafloor mapping to ocean chemistry, from FAIR principles to Digital Twin Ocean integration.
For a deeper look at EMODnet Chemistry's contributions to EGU 2026 — including FAIR vocabulary work and HE Blue-Cloud 2026 project eutrophication workflows — read the full Chemistry article here.