WEkEO Earth Observation DIAS Supports Training of Marine Ecologists via Marine Analyst platform

Through Marine Analyst and WEkEO, users can now access data and analyses addressing current societal and environmental issues related to the marine sector. By retrieving Copernicus data directly through WEkEO, Marine Analyst aims to train future marine ecologists and inform the general public of the state of the marine environment.

It can, for example, be used to gather information about marine protected areas, marine litter, or marine traffic, support maritime spatial planning or provide extensive data to support the implementation of the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Overall, Marine Analyst improves transparency, enables innovation and ultimately protects the environment by providing Copernicus data. This data will then help stakeholders knowingly plan, manage, protect and restore marine areas, such as scientists working in the field of marine research.

“I mainly use Marine Analyst to understand the intensity and variability of marine traffic in French marine and protected coastal areas to map commercial and non-commercial activities that take place in these areas,” explains research engineer Eric LeGentil. “Marine Analyst’s added value in this context is to provide indicators that allow measuring marine traffic in a standard way, which can be used as the basis for comparisons between the different areas for instance”.

The data infrastructure between the partners implementing the Copernicus Services and WEkEO is directly linked rather than being duplicated. This is what allows WEkEO users - and platforms such as Marine Analyst - to uniformly access the most up-to-date Copernicus data without extra steps.

“I discovered and started using Marine Analyst at the 2021 Copernicus Climate Change Conference and General Assembly” said Alberto Filimao Sitoe, marine researcher from Mozambique. “Marine Analyst is of great importance for my work, as it provides me with data on oceanographic and meteorological parameters, which are necessary for my thesis on the Energetic Potential of Ocean Waves on the Xai-Xai beach in Mozambique. It has helped me move forward faster with both my thesis and the production of scientific articles”.

Data used by Marine Analyst mainly come from WEkEO’s EMODnet thematic portals, OSPAR, HELCOM, GEBCO, and other sources. WEkEO’s virtual machines allow a powerful data access and processing virtual environments.

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Read our article on the Marine Analyst platform here and access their website here.