What a week! As announced in last week’s Map of the Week, a lot happened this week!
On Monday, people across the world celebrated World Ocean Day! Observed annually on 8 June, World Ocean Day highlights the vital role the ocean plays in sustaining life, regulating the climate, and supporting livelihoods worldwide.[1] “Reimagine”, the theme of World Oceans Day 2026, invited us to change the way we see and care for the ocean. Visit the World Ocean Day website to learn more about events that took place. What about you? What is your connection to the ocean? How do you reimagine the ocean? Have a look at the United Nations World Ocean Day 2026 discussion guide ‘REIMAGINE. Beyond The World We Know, A New Relationship With Our Ocean’.
The Third World Ocean Assessment was launched on World Ocean Day. [2] The third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), the only global integrated assessment of the world’s ocean covering environmental, economic and social aspects, is the main output of the third cycle of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the States of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects. It is a collective effort of interdisciplinary writing teams made up of more than 650 experts, providing an important scientific basis for the consideration of ocean issues by Governments, intergovernmental processes, and all policy-makers and others involved in ocean affairs. [3] Discover the World Ocean Assessment Digital Platform.
- Experts gathered at the first Digital Ocean Week on 8–12 June 2026 in Brussels (Belgium). This event, organised by Mercator Ocean International, highlighted the link between Europe’s ocean ambitions and the digital infrastructures needed to deliver them. On 9 June 2026, the Copernicus Marine Service, implemented by Mercator Ocean International on behalf of the European Commission, launched MyOcean Health, a new digital platform designed to make understanding the ocean as easy as checking the weather. [4] On 10 June 2026, the high-level event “OceanEye: From Vision to Implementation” brought together the European Commission, Members of the European Parliament and key stakeholders, from in-situ and satellite observation to digital services and provided a platform to discuss OceanEye’s strategic priorities and explore pathways to engage in the collective effort underpinning the International Alliance.
- On 10 June 2026, the European Commission presented the European Union (EU) strategies for islands and coastal communities. The two initiatives introduce a targeted approach, dedicated to the specific needs and unique challenges of:
- 17 million people living on more than 4,000 islands across 16 EU Member States;
- 95 million people living along the 70,000 km of EU coastlines and in coastal areas across 22 EU Member States.
While reading information about World Ocean Day, you may have noted that the ocean covers over 70% of the planet. But do you know how deep it is? Dive in the Map of the Week to find out about mean underwater depth in the European region. What about the average ocean depth worldwide you ask? The average depth of the ocean is about 3,682 meters. The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench. Challenger Deep is approximately 10,935 meters deep. [5]
Wish to know more and to engage?
Explore the European Atlas of the Seas’ catalogue of more than 270 map layers and the Atlas Teachers Corner;
Create your own ocean map with the European Atlas of the Seas using the ‘My Locations’ and ‘My Notes” tools;
Learn about the 73 new Decade Actions endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (‘Ocean Decade’) on World Ocean Day;
Read the article ‘Blue Schools in practice: how European classrooms explore water and ocean challenges’ in the Science in School journal;
Find out about the #EUBeachCleanup campaign and how you can participate.
Stay tuned to the Atlas Map of the Week published on the Maritime Forum and the EMODnet portal!
The data in the map is provided by EMODnet.
The European Atlas of the Seas is powered by the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). Don’t miss the latest news, register for the monthly EMODnet News Digest.
[1] https://www.unesco.org/en/days/oceans
[2] https://www.un.org/en/observances/oceans-day/message