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EMODnet Chemistry is one of the seven thematic portals of EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network), the long-term initiative aiming to ensure that European marine data are findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable. EMODnet was launched by DG MARE in 2009 as the pillar of the Blue Growth strategy, Marine Knowledge 2020.Eutrophication (e.g. nutrients, oxygen and chlorophyll), contaminants (e.g. hydrocarbons, pesticides, heavy metals, antifoulants) and marine litter (e.g. beach litter, seafloor litter and floating micro litter) are the main categories of quality assured marine data sets and data products made available through the EMODnet Chemistry portal.45 marine research and monitoring institutes and oceanographic data management experts from 30 countries comprise the EMODnet Chemistry network, including National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODC), National Environmental Monitoring Agencies and Marine Research Institutes actively involved in managing, processing and providing access to data sets from European marine waters and global oceans.During 2020 EMODnet Chemistry consolidated fundamental international collaborations and upgraded cooperation actions on the European and global level to share and harmonize data, knowledge and services, following decision-makers’ needs to implement EU directives, such as MSFD, MSPD, INSPIRE directive, and the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of the United NationsMain EMODnet Chemistry 2020 transnational cooperation actions are:The MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter used the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database to compute the EU beach litter quantitative Baselines and Threshold values. The European Environment Agency confirmed the use of EMODnet Chemistry data for three environmental state indicators relating to eutrophication and contaminants. Mercator Ocean International and EMODnet Chemistry set up the first joint portfolio of products in support of the MSFD implementation. The two partners are also exploring opportunities to support the aquaculture sector. EMODnet -Chemistry and the In Situ Thematic Assembly Centre of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS INSTAC) collaborated with ENVRI Marine European Research Infrastructures (Euro-Argo, EMSO, ICOS, Lifewatch and SeaDataNet) to enhance FAIRness of in situ data. Mercator Ocean international, UNDESA, SULITEST NGO and EMODnet Chemistry have been creating an awareness questionnaire to raise awareness on the Goal 14 of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The EU asked EMODnet Chemistry to share its experience at the G20 workshop on harmonized monitoring and data compilation of marine plastic litter organized by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. The international Oxygen data portal and Ocean Acidification data portal received contributions from EMODnet Chemistry and CMEMS in situ TAC for their implementation. The National Marine Data and Information Service of China collaborates with EMODnet to strengthen international ocean data through the EMOD-PACE project.

The CMEMS In Situ TAC (INSTAC) integrates in situ observations from various platforms, (e.g. profiling floats, gliders, drifters, saildrones, research vessels, ferryboxes, fixed stations, tides gauges, sea mammals, high-frequency radar), providing physical and biogeochemical ocean data at local, regional and global scales, with an increasing data integration from the polar and coastal regions. The INSTAC quality-controlled data in both delayed mode and near-real time are contributing to support the operational oceanography (e.g. model forecasting, analysis and reanalysis, satellite calibration, downstream services) and to monitor the 4-dimensional ocean at various spatial and temporal scales. The INSTAC multi-year products provide an essential information on the ocean state, variability and changes and allow addressing long-term variations (climate) analysis as well as detecting remarkable events. Hence, the INSTAC group has contributed substantially to the elaboration of the annual CMEMS Ocean State Report (OSR, Von Schuckmann et al., 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). A general overview of the INSTAC contributions to the CMEMS OSR is presented, highlighting its capacity to describe, analyze and understand the ocean state and variability of both physical and biogeochemical components from the sea surface to the deep ocean, from the coastal to open sea waters, from tropical to polar regions, from semi-enclosed seas to the global ocean, from short-term to long-term temporal scales. The INSTAC team contributes to the CMEMS Ocean Monitoring Indicators reporting, investigates the ocean circulation variability, analyses the impact of climate change on marine ecosystem and ocean circulation, and develops operational applications and services. Maintaining the current observational network, integrating new platforms, enhancing the spatial and temporal resolutions, improving methodologies and developing new metrics (e.g. quality control, data assimilation), developing new products, INSTAC will continue to serve the overall need to understand and predict the ocean state and variability, in line with the present and future scientific, societal and environmental challenges.

CMEMS IN SITU TAC (INSTAC) collects in situ observations from various platforms (e.g. Argo floats, gliders, drifters, ships, fixed stations, marine mammals, high-frequency radar). It provides free, open and quality-controlled physical and biogeochemical ocean data in both delayed mode and near-real time, in support to the operational oceanography, the ocean health and the climate change. Monitoring the 4-dimensional ocean at various spatial and temporal scales, the INSTAC multi-year products provide an essential information on the ocean state, variability and changes. Hence, the INSTAC group contributes substantially to the elaboration of the annual CMEMS Ocean State Report (Von Schuckmann et al., 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020), in collaboration with internal and external scientific experts, as well as with other CMEMS TACs and MFCs.A general overview of the INSTAC contributions to the CMEMS Ocean State Report is presented, highlighting its capacity to describe, analyze and understand the ocean state and variability of both physical and biogeochemical components from the sea surface to the deep ocean, from the coastal to open sea waters at both short-term (event) and long-term temporal scales. The INSTAC team contributes to the CMEMS Ocean Monitoring Indicators (e.g. temperature, salinity, ocean heat content, water mass and heat exchange, extreme event detection), investigates the ocean circulation variability (e.g. cold and fresh blob in North Atlantic, mesoscale eddy anomaly), analyses the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystem and ocean circulation (e.g. water mass responses to climate warming, cyclones), and develops operational applications and services (pollution risk, search-and-rescue, storm and wave alerts, river discharges).

We present the Copernicus in-situ ocean dataset of temperature and salinity (version V5.2). The ocean subsurface sampling varied widely from 1950 to 2017, as a result of changes in the instrument technology and development of in-situ observational networks (in particular, tropical moorings, ARGO program). The global ocean temperature data coverage on an annual basis grows thus from 10 % in 1950 (30 % for the North Atlantic basin) to 25 % in 2000 (60 % for the North Atlantic basin) and reaches a plateau exceeding 80 % (95 % for the North Atlantic Ocean) after the deployment of the ARGO program. The average depth reached by the profiles also increases from 1950 to 2017. The validation framework is presented, and an objective analysis-based method is developed to assess the quality of the dataset validation process. Analyses of the ocean variability are calculated without taking into account the data quality flags (raw dataset OA), with the near real time quality flags (NRT dataset OA) and with the delayed time mode quality flags (CORA dataset OA). The comparison of the objective analysis variability shows that the near real time dataset managed to detect and to flag most of the large measurement errors, reducing the analysis error bar compared to the raw dataset error bar. It also shows that the ocean variability of the delayed time mode validated dataset is almost exempt from the random error induced variability.

The French program Coriolis as part of the French oceanographic operational system produces the COriolis dataset for Re-Analysis (CORA) on a yearly basis which is based on temperature and salinity measurements on observed levels from different data types. The latest release of CORA covers the period 1990 to 2010. To qualify this dataset, several tests have been developed to improve in a homogeneous way the quality of the raw dataset and to fit the level required by the physical ocean re-analysis activities (assimilation and validation). These include some simple tests, climatological tests and a model background check based on a global ocean reanalysis. Visual quality control (QC) is performed on all suspicious temperature (T) and salinity (S) profiles identified by the tests and quality flags are modified in the dataset if necessary. In addition, improved diagnostic tools were developed – including global ocean indicators – which give information on the potential and quality of the CORA dataset for all applications. This Coriolis product is available on request through the MyOcean Service Desk (http://www.myocean.eu/).