EMODnet launches European Atlas of Marine Life

"The European Atlas of Marine Life" utilizes a combination of innovative tools, models and maps to visualize marine biological data in a clear manner. It provides an overview of a large number of species that occur in European waters, including marine birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, benthos and plankton.

Dataproducts that are visualized are an attempt to aggregate biological observations that fit within the "Essential Ocean Variables for Biodiversity" (EOV), which is an initiative aiming to harmonize all biological data around the globe. The range of data that is displayed using the Atlas is quite large, with several different dataproducts such as: 

• (1) Maps and trends on the abundancies of fish, birds, zooplankton and phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean; 
• (2) Spatial products based on the functional groups within the fish and macrobenthos species; 
• (3) An analysis of the thermal niches for several marine species;
• (4) Spatial products displaying the occurrence of invasive species within European waters.

New dataproducts will still be added after the final launch, following new analyses that will be conducted by EMODNet Biology partners as well as the larger scientific community. The methodology by which the dataproducts are created is well documented and freely available, allowing users to reuse the products as well as use it as a base for their own products. 

The website can be accessed using this link, or by clicking on the image at the top of this article. On the website, all products are available for dowload as netcdf-files or through a web service. The documentation of the methodology can be retrieved for every dataproduct through a R-Markdown document.