European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)
Use Cases
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To understand the full benefits of EMODnet, users are kindly asked to describe how EMODnet supports them in their daily work and activities.
If you have developed an application using EMODnet products that you would like to share with us or if you use EMODnet data for other purposes, submit your use case by contacting secretariat@emodnet.ec.europa.eu.
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.
The University of Southampton and its Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute is a major European centre for oceanography and marine geoscience. The Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) is the largest entity of its kind in the world, with expertise in everything from naval architecture to social sciences and work to address issues in the natural ocean environment (marine) and human use of the sea (maritime).
EUROqCHARM is an EU-funded H2020 project that lasted from 01 November 2020 – 31 October 2023. The project provided harmonised methodologies for the monitoring and assessment of marine plastics (macro-, micro- and nano-) in all environmental compartments: water, soil/sediment, air, and biota. Additionally, it released blueprints for standards of marine litter monitoring and data management and recommendations for policy and legislation.
As part of the AdriaClim project, researchers from the University of Bologna and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in Italy utilized EMODnet Chemistry data to create a detailed 3D biogeochemical model for the Adriatic Sea. Their analysis yielded insights into future biogeochemical changes driven by climate change, affecting marine ecosystems and key economic sectors like fisheries.
University of Girona used EMODnet datasets in the Horizon EU project Blue-Paths, to develop a dashboard demonstrator with the goal to inform the wider audience about the geographic and social, ecological and economic characteristics of the high-potential areas for offshore wind energy in the Spanish sea space in a dynamic manner.
In 2021, the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) chose EMODnet Chemistry as the web-based platform to manage Baltic Sea data on beach litter for the ‘State of the Baltic Sea’ holistic assessment report (HOLAS) purposes. Since then EMODnet Chemistry has ingested, harmonised and validated data that had been collected from 2016 to 2021 on 141 beaches in 9 countries.
Plastic pollution is a pressing global issue that endangers marine ecosystems, human well-being and animal welfare. Only 9 percent of plastic is recycled; by 2025, we could be dealing with up to 250 tonnes of mismanaged waste; every year the world uses up to 5 trillion plastic bags; about 10 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans each year.
Outcomes: Authors were able to propose methods for assessing representativity across European MPA's, suggesting the use of biozones and benthic habitats within EUSeaMap as a primary data source. Moreover, assessment habitat classes (revised broad habitats) are proposed based on the crosswalk of MSFD broad habitat types with respect to EMODnet Folk 5 substrate and seabed biological zone classes
Outcomes: Users were able to apply a demonstrator tool able to map the Risks of Cumulative Effects (RCE) of different pressures, using benthic habitats within France as an example.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user: Coverage of benthic habitats was sourced for the entire French Exclusive Economic Zone.
