Marine Open Data: a way to stimulate ocean science through EMODnet and SeaDataNet initiatives

Abstract

A clean and healthy ocean can be achieved, restored and preserved through constant and systematic monitoring of the marine environment, which allows to understand its complex dynamics and exploit its natural recourses through a sustainable development approach. Marine monitoring is a complex and multidisciplinary activity that measures, evaluates and determines physical and biogeochemical parameters at multiple scales through a variety of sensors characterized by different accuracy. The management and long term preservation of the deriving marine data represents a societal priority which enables to assess the past and present ocean state, to predict its evolution and to understand/mitigate the impact of human activity and climate change on it.