Welcome to the fifth issue of the LandSeaLot Observer! We’ve had an active summer of observing together across Europe. Cruises have been conducted in the Baltic Sea and Seine Estuary, sensors have been deployed by researchers and with citizen scientists from students to surfers, and we’ve connected with local communities who are interested in studying the land-sea interface through events like The Ocean Race Europe.

As these observation efforts scale up and diversify, the Work Package 6 team is responsible for supporting the management of the data being collected with uptake into EU-wide use and data products as end-result. Lately, we’ve focussed on the management of river data and cost-effective sensor data. With the first sensors now purchased and tested, we are able to analyse the output and investigate any gaps for data re-use. We look forward to working with the developers of these sensors, who have the power to equip citizen scientists and researchers with new and improved observation means. I am sure this will lead to much more data becoming available about the coastal zone, and the growth of shared knowledge to help us protect our oceans and seas. And it is crucial to take into account the human factor, and acknowledge the importance of developers, researchers and citizen scientists for achieving these goals.

Back at the beginning of my career, some fascinating technologies were being developed to mathematically identify humpback and killer whales by their tails from an image. I was involved in creating tools to enter, archive, manage and publish the data —all with potentially excellent results. But there was strong hesitation when it came to sharing the data due to “giving away the data and everyone using it without involvement of and reference to the data collector.” This led to failure in the short term. Today, data sharing has become much more open, but this early experience taught me the importance of valuing and supporting the hard work of those who are gathering data and developing technology. Collaboration and recognition of each other’s efforts is key to the success of LandSeaLot and we support this by striving for data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (F.A.I.R).

You’ll find more details on the F.A.I.R data journey below, as well as the latest news, events and upcoming opportunities. Let’s keep observing together!

Peter Thijsse
LandSeaLot Work Package 6
MARIS