Study on Interim Evaluation of European Marine Observation and Data Network Conor O’Kane Stephanie Good Robert Arthur

Interim Evaluation Task 1: Assess user friendliness Task 2: Gauge re-usability of the data Task 3: Determine how well portals have overcome legal obstacles

Task 1: Assessing user-friendliness of portals Examination of content and functionality Does it deliver to the users a good understanding of: – The scope of EMODNET – Data coverage of portal – Quality of data in the portal – How to download data – How to provide feedback

Task 2: Re-usability of data Assess reusability of the portals by: – Downloading data from each portal – Importing them into local processing systems – Performing a series of simple processing tasks

Task 3. Analysis of legal compliance Data available through EMODNET are subject to (IPR) intellectual property rights Use/re-use of the data will depend on the approval of the data owner subject to possible conditions Carefully review each of the portals in terms of their respective approaches to IPR (both explicit and implicit) as well as the progress reports Desk study and telephone interviews with the coordinators of the projects behind the portals Undertake a legal analysis and document the main findings regarding licensing provisions

Task 1: Biology Portal – data coverage Selected Themes Number datasets Number taxa Datasets on EurOBIS Data restrictions/level (of those available on EurOBIS) % Benthos Unrestricted: 61% Freely available if cited: 11% Restricted (various): 26% No information: 1% Zooplankton Unrestricted: 29% Freely available if cited: 24% Restricted (various): 29% No information: 18% Fish Unrestricted: 36% Freely available if cited: 44% Restricted (various): 12% No information: 8% Birds Unrestricted: 33% Freely available if cited: 8% Restricted (various): 50% No information: 8% Algae/ Macroalgae Unrestricted: 32% Freely available if cited: 26% Restricted (various): 35% No information: 6.5% Angiosperms/ Plants 6635Unrestricted: 80% No information: 20%

Task 2: Biology Portal – species summaries Family of speciesNorth SeaAtlantic coastIberian coast Phytoplankton112,556143,02014,803 Zooplankton94,724144,0578,855 Angiosperms34,37648,5136,861 Macro-algae31,17147,8936,437 Invert. Benthos536,068120,6403,949 Birds501,474287,67985 Sea mammals15,720394,8610,799 Reptiles972,723315

Task 2 difficulties Layers use IHO Sea Areas More difficult to manipulate the data at sub- basin level An issue in relation to MSFD?

Task 1: Chemistry Portal – data coverage Selected Parameter categories Number datasets Data restrictions/level for those datasets available on EurOBIS % Administration/ dimensions Unrestricted: 50% SeaDataNet licence: 28% Restricted: 22% License: 0.04% Anthropogenic contamination13565 Unrestricted: 34% SeaDataNet licence: 3.5% Restricted: 62% License: 0.15% Academic: 0.03% Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Unrestricted: 45% SeaDataNet licence: 42% Restricted: 11% No Access: 1.8% Licence: 0.3% Academic: 0.01% Dissolved gases313738Unrestricted: 41% SeaDataNet Licence: 47% Restricted: 11% No Access: 1.6% Academic: 0.07% License: 0.02%

Task 1: Chemistry Portal (con’t) Selected Parameter categories Number datasets Data restrictions/level for those datasets available on EurOBIS % Nutrients Unrestricted: 44% SeaDataNet License: 44% Restricted: 9% No Access: 2% Academic: 0.01% License: 0.2% PCBs and organic micro- pollutants 9246 Unrestricted: 36% SeaDataNet Licence: 5% Restricted: 60% License: 0.2% Suspended particulate matter24278Unrestricted: 60% SeaDataNet licence: 27% Restricted: 7% No Access: 5% Academic: 1%

Task 2 difficulties Data availability – forms to complete even for unrestricted data. Delays to process these Data formats, additional software may be required to process files

Task 1: Hydrography portal – data coverage Parameter categoryNumber datasets Data restrictions/ level: number (%) ** Gravity, magnetic and bathymetry 3432Restricted: 99% Distribution cost charge: 82% Licence: 83% SeaDataNet License: 1% **Some datasets have more than one restriction type

Task 2: Hydrography Portal – coastline and bathymetry map

Task 2 difficulties XYZ as by grids individual folders – lot of files to process Data availability (for calculating confidence intervals) – perhaps not possible?

Task 1: Geology Portal – data coverage Geology front page links to OneGeology-Europe (1G-E) website with data product (map) – potentially useful that it is combined with land The ‘EMODNET substrate map’ is difficult to locate on the 1G-E site Data layers for Baltic Sea, Greater North Sea, Celtic Sea It is possible to view the metadata associated with the substrate map – The metadata included an ‘Access constraints’ field that stated: The ~1:1 million scale data is available for download in GeoSciML and ESRI ShapeFile formats from the 1G-E portal free of charge, without any restrictions, for any legitimate use, including public, private and commercial use Not possible to download raw data used to make the map from the Geology front page or the 1G-E portal

Task 2: Geology Portal – sediment and strata maps

Task 2 difficulties Data availability - data not yet available

Task 1: Physical habitats portal – data coverage JNCC website has EUSeaMap page that links to a map tool for viewing layers of data, including from other EMODNET portals No separate data catalogue, but metadata is available for mapping options in the portal – The metadata included a ‘Conditions of use’ field that stated Data is freely available for research or commercial use providing that the originators are acknowledged in any publications produced Data coverage includes Celtic Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea, western Mediterranean Sea

Task 2: Physical habitats Portal – % habitat by basin summaries LEVEL 2 Substrate type % coverage North SeaBalticMediterranean A A A A AC AD AE AF AG AH Deep circalittoral mixed hard sediments Deep circalittoral seabed High energy circalittoral mixed hard sediments0.019 High energy circalittoral seabed0.224 High energy infralittoral mixed hard sediments High energy infralittoral seabed Low energy circalittoral mixed hard sediments Low energy circalittoral seabed Low energy infralittoral mixed hard sediments Low energy infralittoral seabed Moderate energy circalittoral mixed hard sediments Moderate energy circalittoral seabed0.193 Moderate energy infralittoral mixed hard sediments Moderate energy infralittoral seabed0.129 Upper bathyal seabed0.004 Upper slope coarse sediment0.000 Upper slope mixed hard sediments0.541 Upper slope seabed0.314 (blank)

Task 2 difficulties Overlaps in basin coverage (Baltic/North Sea) Habitat and IHO Sea area don't match up Descriptors for the habitats not always there

Overview of all portals – Task 1 All portals made mention of the EMODNET initiative – However, some provided more information than others Workshop/meetings, reports, posters etc: B, C, H, SM Brief overview of EMODNET initiative: All Detailed description of EMODNET initiative: C, H Link to EMODNET pages on DG MARE site: B, C, H, SM Portals indicated quality control and quality assurance of data in different ways, not always clear to user what has been done Downloading data (Task 2) All portals have options to provide feedback

Overview of all portals – Task 2 Data availability – will it all be available? Some data sets collated (e.g. Habitats, Hydrology) while some separate (Chemistry, Biology) Interrogation at the sub-basin level can be an issue Data Formats can also be an issue