Use Cases

EMODnet Seabed Habitats data enabled the mapping of potential disturbance to benthic habitats due to fishing in the north-east Atlantic. The assessment was part of the wider OSPAR Intermediate Assessment 2017, which evaluates the status of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

Orsted Power (UK) Ltd are responsible for the development, construction and operation of offshore windfarms across Europe. Hornsea Project Three has been proposed in the North Sea, off the North Norfolk Coast, with the potential to be generating up to 2,400 MW of electricity, the average daily needs of approximately 2 million UK homes.  

The pan-European map presenting the distribution of modelled broad scale seabed habitats (EUSeaMap v2016) made available through the EMODnet Seabed Habitats project, was crucial in the assessment recently performed by ISPRA in collaboration with the European Environment Agency to compile information on the distribution of all  marine broad-scale habitats for the whole Western Mediterranean basin.

NIVA Denmark is a regional office under the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), an institution with over 50 years experience in applied aquatic science.  NIVA Denmark is focussed on applied research in aquatic ecosystems and evidence-based consultancy. Their key areas of research include eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and ecosystem health, as well as the implications of multiple human activities in aquatic environments.

The EMODnet Physics Portal map viewer allows the Fisheries and Oceans department of the Government of Canada to quickly view where a platform is located and which platforms are located next to it.

Leveraging on the EMODnet radar data, PM_TEN, an Italian, technology-transfer company active in the Environmental Physics field, has released a new service for its customers (as part of an environmental impact assessment package) which uses EMODnet radar data to integrate the output of numerical circulation models and provide a solid and validated input to oil spill models.

EMODnet Chemistry delivered the first pan-European Marine Litter database. It has been used to compute EU Marine Litter quantitative Baseline, representing a fundamental step of the MSFD Implementation Strategy to provide comparable assessments and to monitor the effectiveness of litter-reduction measures.

Wildsea Europe Route offers tourists access to routes connecting European coastal destinations that allow them to learn about marine wildlife and participate actively in conservation efforts; including the collection and propagation of marine biodiversity data. “Citizen science” activities such as these are increasingly being recognised as an important source of information with the potential to contribute to our knowledge of the sea and increase participants’ sense of responsibility and ownership of the marine environment.

EMODnet Bathymetry data are used by most EMODnet-Geology partners to describe and analyse the seabed. Coupled to data products on Seabed Substrate and Lithostratigraphy, geomorphology is being mapped both transnationally and at large spatial scales.

Changes in coastal sea level caused by the combined effect of surface winds and air pressure have the potential to cause widespread coastal flooding, damage to infrastructure and loss of life.

The low-lying lands bordering the North Sea are particularly vulnerable as was seen most notably in the catastrophic events of 1953. It is expected that climate change will increase the frequency and severity of such events.