EMSO-ERIC

The European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO) aims to explore the oceans, to gain a better understanding of phenomena happening within and below them, and to explain the critical role that these phenomena play in the broader Earth systems.

EMSO is a system of regional facilities placed at key sites around Europe, from North East to the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean, to the Black Sea. Observatories are platforms equipped with multiple sensors, placed along the water column and on the seafloor. They constantly measure different bio-geochemical and physical parameters, that address natural hazards, climate change and marine ecosystems.

EMSO offers data and services to a large and diverse group of users, from scientists and industries to institutions and policy makers. It is an extraordinary infrastructure to provide relevant information for defining environmental policies based on scientific data.

EMSO-ERIC is one of the new blue data infrastructures federated in Blue-Cloud 2026, making its data available via the Data Discovery & Access Service.

This is particularly relevant to the development of the Essential Ocean Variables Workbenches for Physics and Ecosystem-level EOVs.