The user organisation
To ensure coherent implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) was adopted by the Member States and the European Commission, also involving the Regional Sea conventions, as well as industry representatives and non-governmental organisations. The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, is part of the CIS and plays a key role in the implementation of the MSFD. JRC’s mission is to anticipate challenges related to EU policy development, integrate science and knowledge into legislation to design new policies, and monitor their implementation and impact. The JRC works to facilitate the exchange of harmonised marine policy and scientific information and to provide the CIS of the MSFD and other EU policies with up-to-date scientific knowledge. In order to best address the individual MSFD descriptors, technical groups were established within the CIS for marine litter, underwater noise, seabed integrity and data, as well as MSFD expert networks for other descriptors.
Challenges faced by the user
After the MSFD second implementation cycle, from 2018 to 2023, the European Commission published an assessment of the marine environment monitoring programmes reported by the Member States, who had to update them by 15 October 2020. The assessment, together with a detailed report by the Commission’s JRC, highlighted gaps in the accessibility of data. This does not allow a deeper analysis of the harmonisation of methods and parameters, but also the frequency and extent of monitoring programmes. Monitoring data and methods, especially when linked to different reporting obligations, should be regularly retrieved and collected to meet policy requirements, which themselves should be continuously harmonised. The JRC strongly recommended that efforts should be made to improve the findability and accessibility of original data and metadata, e.g. by collecting MSFD data through a single data portal.
To this end, the JRC and EMODnet Chemistry have carried out an in-depth analysis of the data in the EMODnet system: their availability, standardisation, harmonisation, storage and accessibility. This led to the improvement of the data structure and the creation of the data collections on contaminants and eutrophication, fed by data from EU Member States under the MSFD monitoring programme. More specifically for the MSFD reporting on Descriptor 5 (Eutrophication), Descriptor 8 (Contaminants) and Descriptor 9 (Contaminants in seafood), the latest data collections for eutrophication and contaminants were made available to the JRC for the first time.
EMODnet services used
EMODnet Chemistry has been recognised by the JRC and the whole MSFD CIS as a consolidated and trusted data manager and unique access point to contaminant and eutrophication data. For this reason, Member States have volunteered to submit these types of data to EMODnet in 2023. The data has been standardised, aggregated, harmonised and validated by EMODnet Chemistry to create regional collections of high-quality data. The JRC was able to freely download the collections from the EMODnet Products Catalogue.
Each collection covers one of the following marine regions: Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Great North Sea, North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. The collections have been compiled according to a methodology agreed with the international community for the aggregation, harmonisation and validation of the data. The methodology is set out in the guidelines EMODnet Chemistry Regional Sea eutrophication data collection and Quality Control loop and Quality Control steps and dataset formats for EMODnet Chemistry Contaminant aggregated datasets. The data refer to many groups of variables for eutrophication, i.e. chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), orthophosphate, dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), as well as for pollutants, i.e. heavy metals, hydrocarbons, antifoulants, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides and biocides, and radionuclides. The data sets are organised as vertical profiles or time series. Vertical profiles are data collected at approximately the same time and location for several consecutive vertical depths, while time series are data collected at the same location and depth but repeated in time. Concerning the matrices, the data for eutrophication come from the water column, while the data for pollutants come from water, sediment and biota.
Impact of EMODnet
The use of EMODnet Chemistry as the single repository for MSFD data for Descriptors 5, 8 and 9 has significantly improved the standardisation, aggregation and harmonisation of data and avoided duplication of effort. It has also significantly improved the availability of accurate metadata and detailed information on methodological and Quality AssuranceQuality Control procedures. A single point of access to high quality data is crucial for harmonising monitoring programmes for the MSFD and between these and others under related EU policies.
“EMODnet enables large scale data collection from EU Member States and an overview of data availability. Having all data accessible through one portal is a prerequisite for analysing data comparability and launching harmonisation efforts. Future availability of all data across multiple parameters and data types is crucial for the quantitative understanding of the Ocean and its protection.” - Georg Hanke (JRC)
Four of the eleven descriptors of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, for which EMODnet Chemistry is the data manager. The MSFD descriptors are used to describe the state of the marine environment.
© EMODnet Chemistry taking inspiration from the MSFD stock images