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Maritime Forum

EMODnet Secretariat progress update – April 2017

This is the first Secretariat progress since the start of the Third EMODnet Development Phase (2017-2020). It covers activities developed within EMODnet in the period covering January till March 2017. During this period, new contracts were signed for most thematic lots as part of EMODnet Phase III; all new contracts will be signed by the end of May 2017. Since new thematic lots have only started, this update focusses mainly on progress made by the EMODnet Sea-basin Checkpoints, supplemented with the information on some thematic lots as well as updates from the Secretariat.

EMODnet progress overview

With the announcement of the new thematic (High Resolution Seabed Mapping-HRSM/Bathymetry was awarded in December 2016; the rest of thematic lots were awarded in January/February 2017), EMODnet has entered its third development phase. This phase entails the consolidation of the EMODnet service providing free and open access to marine data and products. Some of the most relevant novelties with respect to Phase II include a better service to users, by means of a helpdesk, a tighter relationship with regional sea conventions and other non-EU organisations and wider coverage (e.g. more chemical and biological species, underwater noise data and data on marine litter). The aim now is to provide maps with as fine detail as the underlying data permit, hence including areas with higher resolution.

Specific progress and achievements of thematic lots

The award of contracts corresponding to EMODnet Phase III was communicated at the end of January 2017 and signature of contracts will be completed by the end of May 2017. The institutions involved in the different thematic partnerships have remained quite stable, with a decrease in the total number of partners from 160 to 150. However, some renovation in the leading institutions for certain cases has happened. In particular, EMODnet Bathymetry is now coordinated by the French Hydrographic Office SHOM (formerly MARIS), Seabed Habitats (formerly IFREMER, now JNCC) and Geology (formerly British Geological Survey, now GTK-Geological Survey of Finland).

Even if not all contracts had been signed, the Coordinators of the Thematic lots agreed to meet in Brussels in February for the Steering Committee held back to back with the First EMODnet Sea-Basin Checkpoints Stakeholder Conference.

All partners of the EMODnet HRSM/Bathymetry consortium gathered for the kick-off meeting 19 – 22 March 2017 in Venice Italy. A training session on software (Mikado, Sextant, Globe) was also held. Following the start of the new project, a new portal has been launched at the previous existing domain, with a new attractive layout of the entry page.

On February 7th, the EMODnet Coastal Mapping project presented its results at a European Parliament event organised by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) together with the Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas Intergroup to discuss on coastal data. The event, entitled "Mapping EU’s coasts: A key towards Sustainable Blue Development" addressed the strategic importance of coastal bathymetric data to develop maritime activities in a sustainable way in Europe.

EMODnet Physics was very active attending different meetings and conferences with related initiatives such as Mercator, IBIRoos, JericoNext and IODE. It also reported on the outputs of the EMODnet Data Ingestion meeting, where a list of existing measurements and datasets which could be incorporated in the portal was presented and will be next prioritized. Interesting updates in their portal concern the inclusion of HF radar data also from US and Australia.

EMODnet Human Activities reported for the first time on the Web Feature Services (WFS) which are currently available through the portal. Attribute data for Main Ports and Fish Catches are too complex to be released as WFS for the time being. More than 20% of the downloads were related to telecommunication cables.

The Central Portal has been modified so as to include a more explicit connection to the Data Ingestion Project which is now ready to receive submission of datasets. In the following months new upgrades will be implemented for the Central Portal, aiming at providing a more streamlined presentation of content and a better user experience. The Central Portal Data Catalogue is now providing access to the most important data products made available by EMODnet thematic lots. It is also worth highlighting the delivery of the first EMODnet News Digest presenting a compilation of relevant news and announcements related to EMODnet activities.

EMODnet Sea-basin Checkpoint progress

The EMODnet Sea-basin Checkpoint Stakeholder Conference which took place in Brussels on14-15 February 2017 was, without any doubt, the most important event which took place during this reporting period. A description of the development and main findings of the Conference is available via the Maritime Forum; a more detailed report is now being prepared and will be made available in May 2017.

While participating in the Conference, one of the “senior” Checkpoints (North Sea) had in fact already finished its work in December 2016. The second oldest, the MedSea Checkpoint, will run until June 2017.

Both North Sea and MedSea Checkpoints took advantage of the Conference to meet their Experts Panels for the second time and present their final Adequacy Reports to them. Experts commented on the results and made suggestions to improve the reports.

The Arctic Checkpoint held an Expert Panel Meeting in Brussels in January on 30 and 31 January 2017. The project coordinator and other members of the team presented the progress achieved so far to a group of six experts representing different communities of stakeholders. Available under the “Reports and News” section of the Arctic Checkpoint website, the report of this expert panel meeting stressed the need to have more free data available through the enforcement of legal measures. Finding experts with expertise in the Artic area to attend the meeting proved difficult. This difficulty was evidenced again during the Checkpoint Stakeholder Conference, which had a smaller number of participants than other sessions. Since recently, the Arctic Checkpoint portal now also offers a dashboard application service providing access to synthetic information about the assessment reports and datasets used to do the adequacy reports, as well as results concerning the quality and adequacy of those datasets.

The Atlantic Checkpoint highlighted the efforts and thinking that was invested in the preparation and the follow up of the EMODnet Stakeholder Conference in terms of presentation of results and developing a common approach and methodology. It also reported on the difficulties they are facing to prepare the products specifications, reconciling the description of the call with the already-known data landscape. To this end, the Atlantic Checkpoint coordinators have prepared a spreadsheet to edit the metadata of the products as per ISO 19115.

The Baltic Checkpoint stressed the importance of disseminating he results achieved so far to obtain useful feedback from stakeholders and data users. This was done at the occasion of the Checkpoint Stakeholder Conference, but also through other invited talks during different workshops such as the EU-China workshop on marine science and marine data (Bruges, Belgium), the DG MARE expert workshop on Environmental Monitoring Technology in the Baltic Sea Region (Hamburg, Germany) and the “Baltic Sea from Space” workshop in Helsinki (Finland). The Baltic Checkpoint reported on the demography and location of visitors to the portal, with more than 25% of them coming from US.

The Black Sea Checkpoint delivered its first Interim and Experts Panel reports to EASME and actively participated in the preparation and running of the Stakeholder Conference. As for the Atlantic Checkpoint, team leaders have been working on the definition and description of the target products that must be developed for each challenge. Finally, progress was made on the description of the checkpoints’ web content.

Recent meetings and events

  • First EMODnet Stakeholder Conference and Sea-basin Workshops brought together EMODnet experts and interested stakeholders to consider whether marine data collected via current observation and monitoring activities in Europe serve the needs of those who rely upon marine knowledge derived from observations and monitoring data. The Conference presented the findings of the EMODnet Sea-basin data stress tests (Checkpoints) and considered how to strengthen open data repositories serving users who face real problems. Finally, the participants discussed possible solutions and ways forward to improve and better coordinate the existing and future monitoring and observation activities in Europe. The Conference took place on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 February 2017 at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels, Belgium. All relevant documents, as well as the presentations and photos are now available at the EMODnet Central Portal webpage under the Checkpoint section.
  • In the context of the EU China Blue Year, a meeting was held on March 3rd in Bruges, where EMODnet and the European Marine Board provided an overview on their most relevant activities to an EU-Chinese delegation. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the status of marine science and data in Europe and China as well as to consider areas for closer cooperation with China during the EU-China Blue Year and beyond.

Upcoming EMODnet meetings and events

  • European Geosciences Union General Assembly EGU2017, 23 Apr 2017 to 28 Apr 2017, Vienna, Austria
    Geoscientists from all over the world gather at the EGU General Assembly 2017, a meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. Two oral presentations and one poster will give account the most recent achievements of EMODnet Bathymetry, EMODnet Physics and the Black Sea Checkpoints
    More details can be found here.
  • Maritime Spatial Planning, Ecosystem Approach and Supporting Information Systems. (MaPSIS) International Conference, 24 Apr 2017 to 28 Apr 2017, Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
    MaPSIS International Conference brings together professionals, policy & decision makers, researchers and other stakeholders to analyse methodologies, best practices and also to integrate maritime issues within environmental planning using open data Infrastructures. Representatives of the Secretariat and of the Chemistry portal will give talks to show how EMODnet can be a valuable source of data and information for MSP practitioners.
    More details can be found here.
  • European Maritime Day: “The Future of our Seas” , 17 May 2017 to 18 May 2017, Poole, England
    The European Maritime Day is the annual meeting point for Europe’s maritime community, with opportunities to network, discuss and forge joint action. The EMODnet Secretariat will be organising a Workshop jointly with Columbus project which will explore ways to improve coordination and involvement of businesses in data acquisition and sharing activities.
    More details can be found here.

More information

More detailed information can be found on the EMODnet thematic and Sea-basin Checkpoint portals, also accessible through the EMODnet Central Portal.

Thematic lot portals

Sea-basin Checkpoint portals