It’s official! Save-the-date for the 4th EMODnet Open Conference on 25-26 November 2025 in Brussels. This edition will take place during a week of EU Marine Knowledge events, starting with a 0.5-day EMODnet partnership Jamboree on 24 November PM, then the EMODnet Open Conference 25-26 November, directly followed by the Digital Ocean Forum 2025 on 27 November. Stay tuned for more information!

There’s never been a better time to harness the power of Open Data to drive new knowledge. During the EU Open Data Days 2025 event at the European Convention Centre in Luxembourg, EMODnet’s Head of Secretariat Kate Larkin showcased EMODnet as a success story for Open and FAIR data in the marine domain, demonstrating how EMODnet is supporting EU Policy, the Blue Economy, Research, Innovation, and society at large. Recordings and presentations are now available online.

EMODnet was well-represented at European Ocean Days 2025 a high-level, week-long event from 3-7 March 2025 in Brussels that brought together stakeholders from across Europe’s Ocean community. Marine Knowledge was a central theme to the multiple events covering ocean literacy, Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters, sustainable fisheries, the blue economy, and more. And EMODnet was visible as a key EU asset for marine knowledge at the session “Marine Knowledge for the Ocean Pact”, which included interventions by EC DG MARE and EMODnet Chemistry Coordinator OGS. EMODnet’s key role as the in situ component to the European Digital Twin Ocean was also highlighted.

Many EMODnet experts attended the International Ocean Data Conference (IODC III), held on 10–11 March 2025 at INVEMAR in Santa Marta, Colombia. This event brought together global marine data actors to advance open, FAIR, and interoperable ocean data systems with thematic session on marine biodiversity data, capacity building and the global ocean data ecosystem. Check out the EMODnet and wider posters, presentations and highlights online!

At the Mission Ocean & Waters Forum during EU Ocean Days 2025 in Brussels, the European Digital Twin Ocean (EU DTO) booth drew strong interest from across the marine community. As the in situ component of the EU DTO, and a co-developer of the EDITO-Infra initiative, EMODnet was at the forefront, engaging visitors with insights into how its harmonised marine data underpins the European Digital Twin Ocean and supports dynamic, scenario-based tools for sustainable ocean management.

A new report on an EMODnet Biology Autumn 2024 data school is now out. This exemplifies that whilst EMODnet’s stakeholder engagement and collection of marine biodiversity data continues to expand, in collaboration with data providers and other initiatives, the total number of biological occurrence records for the Mediterranean Region remain low compared to other marine regions such as the Atlantic Ocean, North and the Baltic Seas. Concerted action is needed to increase data collection and data sharing efforts in the southern European regional sea basins.

The publication of data, which was completed in March 2025, increased the EMODnet biodiversity data holdings by approximately half a million new occurrence records

From 11 to 13 March 2025, the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics-OGS, which coordinates EMODnet Chemistry, was in Monaco to represent the consortium at the workshop on Harmonization of Monitoring and Assessment of Plastic Pollution of the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML) Community of Practise (CoP). At the meeting, participants faced the challenging task of considering and bringing together different communities concerned with plastics in the economy and/or the environment, for example, as well as their best practices and terminologies.

EMODnet Geology has published a new Story Map on Seafloor Mapping, which shows the long process of geological mapping of the seafloor, interpretation of its results and the compilation of detail and overview map data. Finding and compiling spatial data of the seafloor is a challenge, because data and information on the seafloor is hardly findable, scattered, rarely compatible and often usable only by insiders. The main reason for this situation is the inaccessibility of the ocean floor and the need to use and rely on mostly geophysical methods. EMODnet is a leading European resource for marine geological data and data products – check out this latest communication to learn more!

In March 2025 EMODnet released an updated version of the Bathymetry Digital Terrain Model for Europe and European waters of the Caribbean (see article below for full details). The DTM has been a flagship EMODnet data product for many years, and the latest version is available on the EMODnet Portal Map Viewer. In this blog, EMODnet experts Conor Delaney, EMODnet Technical Coordinator and George Spoelstra, EMODnet Bathymetry expert, take a look into the latest DTM, explaining how this was created from a technical perspective, and how to access it via the EMODnet Portal.