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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.

Harmonization of monitoring protocols and analytical methods is a crucial issue for transnational marine environmental status assessment, yet not the only one. Coherent data management and quality control become very relevant when environmental status is assessed at regional or subregional scale (e.g., for the Mediterranean or the Adriatic Sea), thus requiring data from different sources. Heavy metals are among the main targets of monitoring activities. Significant efforts have been dedicated to share best practices for monitoring and assessment of ecosystem status and to strengthen the network of national, regional and European large data infrastructures in order to facilitate the access to data among countries. Data comparability and interoperability depend not only on sampling and analytical protocols but also on how data and metadata are managed, quality controlled and made accessible. Interoperability is guaranteed by using common metadata and data formats, and standard vocabularies to assure homogeneous syntax and semantics. Data management of contaminants is complex and challenging due to the high number of information required on sampling and analytical procedures, high heterogeneity in matrix characteristics, but also to the large and increasing number of pollutants. Procedures for quality control on heterogeneous datasets provided by multiple sources are not yet uniform and consolidated. Additional knowledge and reliable long time-series of data are needed to evaluate typical ranges of contaminant concentration. The analysis of a coherent and harmonized regional dataset can provide the basis for a multi-step quality control procedure, which can be further improved as knowledge increases during data validation process.

High quality and integrated information able to show marine litter distribution at a global scale is a crucial goal to tackle the environmental problem. One of the important gaps is the definition of a global monitoring protocol and reporting. Large data infrastructures can provide a sustainable framework to host harmonized and standard litter data that can be used and re-used for any purpose, including assessment. EMODnet Chemistry has collected marine litter data since 2016 and has adopted different strategies for the management of the diverse litter data types, exploiting the advantages deriving from the application of the FAIR principles in marine litter data stewardship. The quality of the released data sets is improved allowing a better consistency within data values collected in different contexts (several countries, different techniques, …).

Scientific research as well as management of the marine environment, and sustainable blue growth are based on the availability of quality-assured observations, reliable data and solid scientific-based information. These represent three consecutive steps of Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom paradigm on the pyramid of wisdom, providing different layers of information. EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data network) is one of the key infrastructures engaged in collecting, facilitating access and promoting use and re-use of marine observation and data products for both scientific research and marine environmental management. Its Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) represents a powerful mechanism to support the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive Article 19.3 in accordance with the INSPIRE Directive standards and implementing rules. Standardized, harmonized and validated chemical data collections are made available for water quality evaluation at a regional scale, establishing interoperability between the data sets from the many different providers (more than 60 in EMODnet Chemistry). Concentration maps of nutrients, chlorophyll-a and dissolved oxygen are computed on a standard grid, providing information at a regular time interval, per season and over several vertical layers, including the deepest one. Dedicated Open Geospatial Consortium standard services for browsing, viewing and downloading chemistry observation data and data products for the European waters have been developed, and are actively maintained and monitored. These results can provide knowledge layers and can also answer the needs of the directive on Maritime Spatial Planning (EU, 2014), which requires the integration of multidisciplinary data and information on the state of the marine environment with maritime and human activities.

Data sharing, interoperability and quality check are only a short part of the activities connected to the data management. Create a procedure to harmonize and disseminate heterogeneous data, collected by different meteo-oceanographic buoys in near real-time, is a challenge. In this paper, we describe a system for data validation, conversion in a homogeneous and standard format and dissemination adopting Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) using XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and OGC’s (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. To meet the needs of different scientific communities as RITMARE (La Ricerca ITaliana per il MARE), Jerico (Towards a joint European research infrastructure network for coastal observatories), Copernicus, ODIP (Ocean Data Interoperability Platform) and FixO3 (Fixed-point Open Ocean Observatories), we decided to adopt SWE standard allowing interoperability between data in near real-time, using Sensor Model Language (SensorML) and Observations and Measurements(O&M) standards in a Sensor Observation Service (SOS).

Sensor engineering is continuously evolving as devices become cheaper, smaller, more intelligent, and more efficient. Today, oceanographic sensors aim at monitoring marine processes by means of physical, chemical, and biological variables, and use different data formats, units, parameters, resolutions, data quality standards, and protocols. Therefore, integration and interoperability at European level represent a challenge. To cope with this challenge, the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards, developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), are a good solution, as they ensure interoperability and long-term archiving of data series with complete information for all devices. The interoperability allows integrating information from different sources or pre-existing architectures, such as those developed in the SANY project ( http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/regions/SANY ) or by the US Integrated Ocean Observing System ( https://github.com/ioos ). In this paper, we illustrate the real-time data management system, developed by the Italian National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) at the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS in Trieste – Italy, designed to share data acquired by a large number of heterogeneous observing platforms. This system adopts Observations and Measurements (O&M) and Sensor Model Language (SensorML) as data and metadata formats, as well as the Sensor Observation Service (SOS) released by the 52°North as server and Web client for open data access. The work done shows that the choice to manage real-time data using OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards can be considered a valid solution with pros and cons. Nevertheless, in the future, the SWE community will grow, and with it, the number of applications to manage SWE standards to simplify their adoption.

Metadata, by definition, is information associated with data, covering where, how, when and by whom the data were acquired. The chance to take part in European projects such as the EU-SeaDataNet (the Pan-European infrastructure for ocean and marine data management) made it necessary to use XML (Extensible Markup Language) as a standard file format for sharing data and metadata. At present, the Italian National Oceanographic Data Centre (OGS/NODC) has all its data and metadata contained in an Oracle relational database, and the metadata is managed using XML formats and schema (XSD; XML Schema Definition), giving common vocabularies for parameters, instruments, ships, etc. in agreement with European project standards. One problem with XML is the dynamic change in metadata schemas (XSD), necessitating development of a system which is flexible and capable of managing the changes. This paper describes a system for managing oceanographic metadata using XML files and the functionalities provided by the Oracle database. To better manage the XML format, we chose to load into the OGS/NODC database the whole XML file, using a dedicated field. The database Oracle gives us the flexibility to manage the XML format locally, within the OGS/NODC information system, using the XML DB (XML DataBase) Oracle features. This, through the use of XMLType, allows the inclusion of the XML into the database. Furthermore, through the use of the XQuery functions it is possible to create a set of views through which information contained in the XML can be viewed more immediately in a relational form. Using the XML and the XQuery functions, it is possible to store, extract and manage different kinds of information that might be exchanged at the European level. Moreover, with a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) Web Service, we have a simple and standard interface for rapidly and easily creating, modifying and deleting records containing XML files inside the database. Finally, through the use of a RESTful Web Service, it is possible to decouple the application from the database, so that through the use of software that manages HTTP URLs, such as the Mikado (SeaDataNet project), the XML file can be inserted, updated and deleted inside the database without the need for a direct connection to it.

An updated climatology, based on a comprehensive data set (1911–2009) of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, has been produced for the whole Adriatic Sea with the variational inverse method using the DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis) software. Climatological maps were produced at 26 levels and validated with ordinary cross-validation and with a real vs. synthetic temperature–salinity diagram intercomparison. The concept of climatology–observation misfit (COM) has been introduced as an estimate of the physical variability associated with the climatological structures. In order to verify the temporal stability of the climatology, long-term variability has been investigated in the Middle Adriatic and the South Adriatic pits, regarded as the most suitable records of possible long-term changes. Compared with previous climatologies, this study allows a clear identification of the seasonal dynamic of the southern Adriatic, where a clear oxygen minimum is typically observed in the centre of the South Adriatic Gyre. New and better resolved features emerged from this analysis: (1) below 100 m all properties profoundly differ between the central and the southern Adriatic and seem characterized by different biogeochemical dynamics; (2) the South Adriatic Pit clearly shows the remote effects of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient, while no effect is observed in the Middle Adriatic Pit; (3) the deepest part of the southern Adriatic seems now to be significantly saltier (+0.18 psu since the period 1910–1914, with an increase of +0.018 decade−1 since the late 1940s) and warmer (+0.54 °C since 1910–1914) even though a long-term temperature trend could not be statistically demonstrated; (4) the Middle Adriatic Pit shows a long-term increase in apparent oxygen utilization (+0.77 mL L−1 since 1910–1914, with a constant increase of +0.2 mL L−1 decade−1 after the 1970s).

The main aim of this work is to describe in detail how to develop an instrument, with the goal of collecting and managing a great deal of both geological and geophysical data acquired using different survey typologies in Eastern Sicily (Italy). The opportunity to manage different categories of data, at the same time, allows us to have a complete view of the complex area studied. This paper discusses a software package that has been designed to enhance the efficiency of applying a range of geological and geophysical data. More than 12000 records are archived: boreholes represent 81% of the data and 19% is geophysical data. In this paper it is illustrated how both kinds of data, thanks to the functionalities of the database and the possibility of connecting to a Geographical Information System (GIS), can be used in a variety of different geological studies. We present four studies where is relevant the use of the database, in detail, we show a morpho-structural study, an examination of the spectral analysis of the noise data, an update of the geological and geotechnical maps, and a classification of the areas on the basis of the distribution of the shear wave velocity in the firsts 30 meters (Vs30). They are just some examples of the potentialities of a relational database.