Digital Oceans: Unlocking Ocean Data
About this GDI Review
DOWNLOAD
SUMMARY
The global ocean: a huge body of saltwater that, despite covering 70% of our planet’s surface, remains more than 80% unobserved and unknown (NOS, 2021). Yet, the increasing proliferation of new marine technologies is now enabling an unprecedented scale and speed of oceanic exploration and digitization — and with it, the generation of extremely valuable data.
Most new ocean data, however, remains privately held and unavailable to researchers, governments, or the public. Existing datasets may be publicly available, but are often of vast quantities and varying qualities, and require resources and expertise to unlock and analyse. Given the importance of the ocean, how might we change these data practices to improve our knowledge and stewardship of this unique environment?
In this review, members of the GDI team dive deep to identify the crucial gaps in ocean data preventing the accurate assessment and understanding of marine ecosystems and human impacts on them. By analyzing key stakeholders and selected case studies, this study identifies the importance of mobilizing inter-sectoral collaboration in generating, unlocking, and providing open access to ocean data — enabling us to better understand the essential role that oceans play not only in our daily lives, but in tackling the climate and biodiversity crises our planet faces.
IMPACT EVENTS