EMODnet Chemistry was in Vienna (Austria) to attend the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which took place from 27 April to 2 May. The aim of the EGU is to provide a forum where scientists, especially young scientists, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts from all areas of the Earth sciences. EMODnet Chemistry is a regular participant at this venue. For this year's edition, the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), the coordinator of the project, has decided not only to showcase the success stories since 2009, but also to give an insight into its new access point to interoperable data.
The use cases for EMODnet Chemistry tell of its extensive network of data providers and data users from all countries bordering European sea basins. Data providers include marine research institutes, environmental agencies, government marine managers from EU Member States dedicated to marine monitoring and/or marine science, ICES, the Copernicus Marine Service and citizen scientists. In terms of data users, the European Environment Agency, the EC Joint Research Centre and most of the Regional Sea Conventions have made extensive use of EMODnet Chemistry data for the implementation of the European Union's marine policy.
“The wealth of use cases for EMODnet Chemistry shows how data fairness can enable faster and more accurate modelling and solutions to pressing global environmental challenges. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all data providers and data users who open up their data and use them for many purposes thanks to EMODnet Chemistry”. Alessandra Giorgetti, OGS, EMODnet Chemistry Coordinator
Find out more about dozens of use cases by viewing the presentation Data exchange and integration: Use Cases for EMODnet Chemistry.
If you want to learn more, read the related abstract and visit the EMODnet use cases section.
Maria Eugenia Molina Jack and Sebastian Plehan, data stewards at the OGS, presented how the EMODnet Chemistry offer of aggregated, harmonised and validated datasets on many marine chemistry parameters are now more interoperable by establishing an ERDDAP instance for the EMODnet Chemistry aggregated data collections starting with the eutrophication and ocean acidification datasets.
EMODnet Chemistry has chosen ERDDAP, developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), because it is an open-source tool that is simple, user-friendly and allows data to be downloaded in various formats. It also enables the automation of queries and can be connected to other ERDDAPs. EMODnet was a pioneer for ERDDAP in Europe, and from 2023 all thematic areas of EMODnet offer some ERDDAP services. EMODnet Chemistry is currently working on making all other collections accessible to ERDDAP, namely the data collections for microliter, beach litter, seafloor litter and contaminants. Finally, the OGS is analysing the performance of the ERDDAP endpoint to optimise its user-friendliness.
“The EMODnet Collections are a good example of how boosting data interoperability is currently a relevant topic in the geoscience community. Thanks to its functionality and open-source nature, there is still great interest in new developments and applications for ERDDAP.” Sebastian Plehan, OGS
Watch the poster Boosting interoperability of EMODnet Chemistry aggregated datasets with a new point of access and read the related abstract.
Learn more about ERDDAP uses cases for EMODnet in its Technical blog and news.
The EGU General Assembly 2025 welcomed 20,984 registered participants, of which 18,646 from 120 countries travelled to Vienna and 2,338 from 104 countries participated online. With 18,934 presentations in 1,102 sessions, it was a great success. The EGU General Assembly will take place again in Vienna and online from 3 to 8 May 2026. See you there next year!