The spatial distributions of (1) surface sediment characteristics (D0.5, Sediment Surface Area (SSA), Particulate Organic Carbon (POC), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Phaeophytin-a (Phaeo-a), Total and Enzymatically Hydrolyzable Amino Acids (THAA, EHAA), δ13C) and (2) sediment profile image (apparent Redox Potential Discontinuity (aRPD), numbers and depths of biological traces) characteristics were quantified based on the sampling of 32 stations located within the West Gironde Mud Patch (Bay of Biscay, NE Atlantic) in view of (1) assessing the spatial structuration of a temperate river-dominated ocean margin located in a high-energy area, (2) disentangling the impacts of hydrodynamics and bottom trawling on this structuration, and (3) comparing the West Gironde Mud Patch with the Rhône River Prodelta (located in a low-energy area). Results support the subdivision of the West Gironde Mud Patch in a proximal and a distal part and show (1) the existence of depth gradients in surface sedimentary organics characteristics and bioturbation within the distal part; (2) no evidence for a significant effect of bottom trawling, as opposed to Bottom Shear Stress, on the West Gironde Mud Patch spatial structuration; and (3) major discrepancies between spatial structuration in the West Gironde Mud Patch and the Rhône River Prodelta, which were attributed to differences in tidal regimes, sedimentation processes, and local hydrodynamics, which is in agreement with current river-dominated ocean margin typologies.

Species distribution models (GAM, Maxent and Random Forest ensemble) predicting the distribution of Syringammina fragilissima fields assemblage in the North East Atlantic. This community is considered ecologically coherent according to the cluster analysis conducted by Parry et al. (2015) on image sample. Modelling its distribution complements existing work on their definition and offers a representation of the extent of the areas of the North East Atlantic where they can occur based on the best available knowledge. This work was performed at the University of Plymouth in 2021.

This visualization product displays plastic bags density per trawl. EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of seafloor litter collected by international fish-trawl surveys have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB). The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols (OSPAR and MEDITS protocols) and reference lists used on a European scale. Moreover, within the same protocol, different gear types are deployed during fishing bottom trawl surveys. In cases where the wingspread and/or number of items were unknown, data could not be used because these fields are needed to calculate the density. Data collected before 2011 are affected by this filter. When the distance reported in the data was null, it was calculated from: - the ground speed and the haul duration using this formula: Distance (km) = Haul duration (h) * Ground speed (km/h); - the trawl coordinates if the ground speed and the haul duration were not filled in. The swept area is calculated from the wingspread (which depends on the fishing gear type) and the distance trawled: Swept area (km²) = Distance (km) * Wingspread (km) Densities have been calculated on each trawl and year using the following computation: Density of plastic bags (number of items per km²) = ∑Number of plastic bags related items / Swept area (km²) Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account data for all years. The list of selected items for this product is attached to this metadata. Information on data processing and calculation is detailed in the attached methodology document. Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.

This product displays for Benzo(a)pyrene, positions with percentages of all available data values per group of animals that are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2022. The product displays positions for all available years.

Modelled density of the seapen Kophobelemnon stelliferum in the North East Atlantic. The Random Forest density model trained on data collected by an ROV was constrained by an ensemble of Maxent and Random Forest presence-absence model trained on a larger dataset also collected by an ROV. This species provides structural complexity in an environment where it is lacking and, thus, promotes higher biodiversity where they settle. They are vulnerable to mechanical disturbance of the sediment by fishing gear and a better understanding of their distribution will lead to better management of their population. This work was performed at the University of Plymouth in 2021.

387 points were surveyed with a SP80 DGPS by Maxime Paschal as part of the La Rochelle Zero Carbon Territory (LRTZC) project on 26/05/23. At each point, the type of vegetation was specified.

This visualization product displays the fishing & aquaculture related plastic items abundance of marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) per beach per year from non-MSFD monitoring surveys, research & cleaning operations. EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB). The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale. Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data: - Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring; - Selection of surveys from non-MSFD monitoring, cleaning and research operations; - Exclusion of beaches without coordinates; - Selection of fishing and aquaculture related plastic items only. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines and EU Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines from JRC (these two documents are attached to this metadata); - Exclusion of surveys without associated length; - Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some case, the survey length was not 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula: Number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items of the survey (normalized by 100 m) = Number of fishing & aquaculture related items of the survey x (100 / survey length) Then, this normalized number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items for each survey. Finally, the median abundance of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items for each beach and year is calculated from these normalized abundances of fishing & aquaculture related items per survey. Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account fishing & aquaculture related plastic items from other sources data for all years. More information is available in the attached documents. Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, ocean acidification, contaminants and litter. The chosen parameters are relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in particular for descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10. The dataset contains standardized, harmonized and validated data collections from beach litter (monitoring and other sources). Datasets concerning beach and seafloor litter data are loaded in a central database after a semi-automated validation phase. Once loaded, a data assessment is performed in order to check data consistency and potential errors are corrected thanks to a feedback loop with data originators. For beach litter, the harmonized datasets contain all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on beach litter, including monitoring data, data from cleaning surveys and data from research. A relevant part of the monitoring data has been considered for assessment purposes by the European institutions and therefore is tagged as MSFD_monitoring. EMODnet beach litter data and databases are hosted and maintained by 'Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Division of Oceanography (OGS/NODC)' from Italy. Data are formatted following Guidelines and forms for gathering marine litter data, which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6092/15c0d34c-a01a-4091-91ac-7c4f561ab508. The updated vocabularies of admitted values are available in https://nodc.ogs.it/marinelitter/vocab. The harmonized datasets can be downloaded as EMODnet Beach litter data format Version 7.0, which is a spreadsheet file composed of 4 sheets: beach metadata, survey metadata, animals and litter.

This product displays for Tributyltin, positions with values counts that have been measured per matrix for each year and are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2022. The product displays positions for every available year.

Moving 6-year analysis and visualization of Water body chlorophyll-a in the North Sea. Four seasons (December-February, March-May, June-August, September-November). Data Sources: observational data from SeaDataNet/EMODnet Chemistry Data Network. Description of DIVA analysis: Geostatistical data analysis by DIVAnd (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis) tool, version 2.7.9. results were subjected to the minfield option in DIVAnd to avoid negative/underestimated values in the interpolated results; error threshold masks L1 (0.3) and L2 (0.5) are included as well as the unmasked field. The depth dimension allows visualizing the gridded field at various depths.