The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is an EC marine data service provided by DG MARE, offering pan-European in situ data and products on the marine environment and human activities at sea. EMODnet addresses the fragmentation of European marine data, making it more accessible. As a flagship European Marine Knowledge initiative, EMODnet is vital for scientists, engineers, managers, and policymakers. It supports the improvement of our understanding of the seas, fosters the blue economy, and bolsters European marine and maritime policy, including initiatives like the EU Green Deal and Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters, among others.
Operating with over 120 partners, EMODnet creates Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) pan-European data layers. EMODnet’s mandate is to assemble, harmonise and standardise in situ ocean observation and data collection efforts from Europe and beyond, and to produce integrated data layers and added value data products at pan-European scale that are open and free for public use. Many of these products are unique to EMODnet, including the Seabed Habitat EUSeaMap, the Bathymetry Digital Terrain Model, the EU Marine Litter Database, and Vessel Density composite maps. EMODnet serves a diverse user community ranging from researchers and scientists, government and policy makers, and the private sector to non-governmental organisations and society and many more.
VLIZ has a key role in EMODnet, hosting the Central EMODnet Portal (emodnet.ec.europa.eu), as a key member of the EMODnet Central Portal team which also involves the EMODnet Secretariat. Moreover, VLIZ is the coordinator of the Biology thematic and partner in other EMODnet thematics e.g., Chemistry. The joint location of VLIZ and the EMODnet Secretariat at the InnovOcean site in Ostend (Belgium) enhances the collaborations at operational and strategic levels including for EMODnet’s key contribution to the EDITO-Infra. EDITO-Infra is a key foundational initiative of the European Digital Twin Ocean, which in 2024 saw the VLIZ and wider EMOD-network deliver a common data lake with EMODnet data products, together with data from Copernicus Marine Service. This was showcased at the 2024 Digital Ocean Forum (DOF) in Brussels in June 2024, co-organised by Seascape Belgium (implementers of the EMODnet Secretariat) and VLIZ, together with Mercator Ocean International and the European Commission.
In 2024, the EMODnet VLIZ and Secretariat teams jointly presented EMODnet at the VLIZ Marine Science Day, and at other events hosted by VLIZ e.g., Ecopath 40 years, co-organised by the European Marine Board, among other external events including the UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain in April 2024.