5 May 2025
NODC was in Vienna (Austria) to participate in the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which took place from 27 April to 2 May. The EGU General Assembly 2025 welcomes geoscientists from all over the world to a meeting that encompasses all disciplines of Earth, planetary and space sciences. The aim of the EGU is to provide a forum where scientists, especially young scientists, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts from all areas of the Earth sciences.
The NODC is a regular participant in the event, but in this edition the Data Centre has contributed more than ever. Indeed, the NODC has decided to present to the EGU audience some of the successes of the many projects in which the Centre is involved.
Alessandra Giorgetti, Maria Eugenia Molina Jack and Sebastian Plehan spoke about the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). This is the gateway to multidisciplinary marine in-situ data and data products and has been funded by the European Commission for 15 years. Giorgetti explained this long-term initiative, pointing the spotlight on the Chemistry component, for which NODC is the scientific coordinator. EMODnet Chemistry collects and makes freely available nearly 1,300,000 million metadata entries and related datasets on seawater quality in various matrices. The EMODnet Chemistry data infrastructure supports the development of evidence-based knowledge on eutrophication, ocean acidification and contaminants, including marine litter. A wealth of use cases for EMODnet Chemistry have been presented at both European and global level. The use cases show how data fairness can enable faster and more accurate modelling and solutions to pressing global environmental emergencies.
Watch the presentation Data exchange and integration: Use Cases for EMODnet Chemistry and read the related abstract
M. Jack and Plehan presented how the EMODnet Chemistry offer of aggregated, harmonised and validated datasets on many marine chemistry parameters are now more interoperable as they are available through the Environmental Research Division Data Access Program (ERDDAP™). In particular, the latest edition of the EMODnet Chemistry data collections on ocean eutrophication and acidification is available via an ERDDAP installation with oceanographic data at erddap.emodnet-chemistry.eu. ERDDAP was first developed and used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for visualisation and data conversion tools that allow multiple data subsets from different sources to be merged into a single workspace. Over the past ten years, the use of ERDDAP has evolved from a software tool developed and used by NOAA to a central tool for around 100 organisations in at least 16 countries.
Watch the poster Boosting interoperability of EMODnet Chemistry aggregated datasets with a new point of access and read the related abstract
Nydia Catalina Réyes Suarez presented a work on virtual research environments and another on ocean acidification data in the Gulf of Trieste, funded by the PNRR project ITINERIS - Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System.
With regard to virtual research environments (VREs), R. Suarez explained the VRE and the toolboxes that have been developed as part of the ITINERIS project for the marine and terrestrial sectors. She explained how the ITINERIS partnership is using these tools to analyse the downstream impacts of climate and environmental change.
Watch the poster Downstream VRE for multidisciplinary applications: Land and Marine domain toolboxes and read the related abstract
With regard to the work on ocean acidification data, R. Suarez emphasised that the effort required to reconstruct long-term time series is largely justified by their importance for future studies to understand ocean acidification and carbon cycle processes in the northern Adriatic.
Watch the poster Reconstructing the long-term time series of ocean acidification data in the Gulf of Trieste: the importance of metadata for data harmonisation and standardisation and read the related abstract
The EGU General Assembly 2025 welcomed 20,984 registered participants, of whom 18,646 from 120 countries travelled to Vienna and 2,338 from 104 countries took part online. With 18,934 presentations in 1,102 sessions, it was a great success. The EGU General Assembly will again take place in Vienna and online from 3 to 8 May 2026.
