INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Nekton’s launch of first open-
sourced Global Ocean Data Portal
for open-access marine data
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O
CTOPUS (The Ocean Tool for Public
Understanding and Science) has
been launched by Nekton to begin a
new era of collaborative marine research and
improved ocean governance.
OCTOPUS provides a single source to
freely access the latest global marine
data. OCTOPUS dynamically harvests and
harmonises open-access marine data
including oceanographic observations,
biodiversity and human stressors on the
ocean. Its objective is to support scientific
study and decision-making for the improved
management of the ocean.
Despite having collected more data on the
ocean in the last two years than in all previous
years combined, the sustainable governance
of the ocean is still being hampered by both
a lack of critical data and inadequate access
to existing data. Where information exists,
databases at national and international level
are fragmented and often incompatible and
difficult to access without a high-level of
computational or scientific skill.
OCTOPUS Founder, Professor Alex Rogers,
Nekton Science Director, University of
Oxford, considers OCTOPUS to be a
critical contribution to global ocean data
infrastructure: “OCTOPUS enables scientists,
policy makers and the general public to have
open-access to a wide variety of current
and high-quality marine data to inform
and catalyse their activities. In effect, it is a
gateway to knowledge on marine ecosystems.
We hope it can become the data brain
to inform and accelerate the sustainable
governance of the ocean,” he said.
One of the first applications is to identify
proposed marine protected areas (MPAs) in
the high seas to inform the negotiations on a
new implementing agreement for the United
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Nations Law of the Sea. OCTOPUS is created
as an open-access portal for the scientific
and ocean governance communities to
utilise freely and develop new applications
using its analytical tools.
How it works
OCTOPUS currently gathers 98 billion data
points from 25 open sources to create
30 different thematic layers related to
biodiversity, administration, oceanography,
human impact and ecosystem services.
Ocean Data Explorer is the central gateway
for users to access, analyse and visualise
ocean state data relating to:
• Ocean biodiversity: species distribution
and occurrence, habitat suitability, deep-
sea and coastal ecosystems
• Oceanography: bathymetry, water
(temperature, salinity, oxygen, nitrate),
currents, turbidity
• Ecosystem services such as net
primary production
• Human impact: ship traffic density, coral
bleaching, ocean acidification, fishing
activity, marine mining licences
• Administration: Exclusive Economic
Zones, Marine Protected Areas, Regional
Fisheries Bodies, Marine Ecoregions
The OCTOPUS server is constantly updated.
As new datasets become available from any
sources, they are harvested, preprocessed
and ingested into the database. Where
applicable, data are served at different
spatial (original, 0.09°) and temporal
(one month, one year, 10 years, 50 years)
resolutions, at standard depth levels,
spanning up to 50 years.
Sources currently include the Ocean
Biodiversity Information System (OBIS),
Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC), European Union (EU),
International Seabed Authority, Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO), United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Additional sources will be added as the
platform develops.
Applications
With the ability to draw on data stretching
back 50 years, OCTOPUS enables scientists,
policy makers and the general public to
quantify the past and present state of the
ocean at a local, regional or international
level. Users can undertake large-scale macro-
ecological modelling or human impact studies
to support scientific study, policy and decision-
making for improved management. n
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