Share your data and contribute via the EMODnet Data Ingestion portal

Anyone collecting and/or holding bathymetry data sets can make a valuable contribution to EMODnet. As part of EMODnet Bathymetry we strive for gathering all high resolution bathymetric survey data sets and composite DTMs which are available for the European sea regions and the European coastal areas. Any incoming data sets are quality checked and processed to the level that the data sets can be used as possible input for producing and refining the EMODnet Digital Terrain Model (DTM) for the European sea regions which can be viewed and downloaded without any constraints from this portal. As part of that process gathered data sets are well documented with metadata and included in the Catalogue services for bathymetric survey data sets and for composite DTMs that are also available at this portal. The metadata includes acknowledgements to the originators and the providers of bathymetric data sets. The metadata is also used as references in the EMODnet Digital Terrain Model (DTM) to indicate which data sets have been used.

The EMODnet DTM is highly popular and used by an increasing group of users from government, science and industry as it clearly provides the best publicly available gridded bathymetry model for the European marine waters. For instance the resolution of the latest release is 64 times higher than the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). However at the same time we still rely on GEBCO for several areas where we have no higher resolution data. 

The EMODnet DTM is important for a whole range of applications in marine science,  management, and economic activities. For science one can name relevance for physical oceanography, e.g. it provides a base geometry for hydrodynamic models, marine geology, e.g. studying dynamic morphological processes, geophysics and biology, e.g. developing seabed habitat maps. For economy one can think of offshore energy projects, such as planning of pipeline trajectories, locations of wind farms etc, planning harbour extensions and shipping channels, and many other economic activities.

The ambition of EMODnet Bathymetry is to refine further the quality and the resolution of the EMODnet DTM and to include not only the deeper waters but also the coastal zones. This requires an increased demand for high resolution bathymetric data sets for all of the European marine waters and coastal zones.

Your data contributions are essential for achieving this ambition and this way serving even better all users of EMODnet Bathymetry.

Make use of EMODnet Data Ingestion to contribute your data sets
In 2016, the EMODnet program launched the EMODnet Data Ingestion project that seeks to identify and to reach out to other potential providers in order to make their data sets also part of the total offer. It aims at streamlining the data ingestion process so that data holders from public and private sectors that are not yet connected to the existing marine data management infrastructures can easily release their data for safekeeping and subsequent distribution through EMODnet. This will enrich the total offer for all types of users and conform to the EMODnet motto 'collect data once and use it many times'.

For further information visit the EMODnet Data Ingestion portal.