SeaDataNet, pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management and major pillar under EMODnet Bathymetry for generating the best Digital Bathymetry for European Seas

SeaDataNet is a major pan-European infrastructure for managing and providing access to marine data sets, acquired by European organisations from research cruises and other observational activities in European coastal marine waters, regional seas and the global ocean. Founding partners are National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), and major marine research institutes. The SeaDataNet network gradually expanded its network of data centres and infrastructure, during a series of dedicated EU RTD projects, and by engaging as core data management infrastructure and network in leading European Commission initiatives such as the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet), Copernicus Marine Service (CMS), and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

SeaDataNet develops, governs and promotes common standards, vocabularies, software tools, and services for marine data management, which are widely adopted. A core service is the CDI data discovery and access service which provides online unified discovery and access to vast resources of data sets, managed by 115+ connected SeaDataNet data centres from 34 countries around European seas, both from research and monitoring organisations. Currently, it gives access to more than 3 Million data sets, originating from 1000+ organisations in Europe, covering physical, geological, chemical, biological and geophysical data, acquired in European waters and global oceans. Standard metadata and data formats are used, supported by an ever-increasing set of controlled vocabularies, resulting in rich and highly FAIR metadata and data sets. SeaDataNet provides core services in EMODnet Chemistry, Bathymetry, and Physics for bringing together and harmonizing large amounts of marine data sets, which are used by EMODnet groups for generating thematic data products.

EMODnet Bathymetry is active since 2008 and maintains a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) for the European seas. This is published every 2 years, each time extending coverage, and improving quality and precision. The DTMs are produced from surveys and aggregated data sets that are referenced with metadata via the SeaDataNet Catalogue services. Bathymetric survey data sets are gathered and populated by national hydrographic services, marine research institutes, and companies in the SeaDataNet CDI Data Discovery & Access service. Currently, this amounts to more than 45.000 datasets from 78 data providers. A major selection of these datasets has been used for preparing the 2024 release of the EMODnet DTM for all European waters and Caribbean, which has been published on the EMODnet portal. Currently, work is ongoing for a new 2026 version. 

The EMODnet DTM has a grid resolution of 1/16 * 1/16 arc minutes (circa 115 * 115 m), covering all European seas. It is based upon circa 22.000+ in situ datasets. It can be downloaded in tiles and viewed as map layers in the EMODnet portal. The maps are derived from EMODnet Bathymetry OGC WMS, WMTS, and WFS services. The EMODnet Bathymetry products are very popular and in 2024 – 2025 more than 100.000 EMODnet DTM files were downloaded, and more than 60 million OGC service requests were registered over the 2 years. EMODnet Bathymetry is also managing the European contribution to the international Seabed 2030 project.