European marine observation data network — EMODnet physics

The EMODnet - Physics is a Marine Observation and Data Information System that provides a single point of access to near real time and historical achieved data. It is includes systems for physical data from the whole Europe (wave height and period, temperature of the water column, wind speed and direction, salinity of the water column, horizontal velocity of the water column, light attenuation, and sea level) as monitored by fixed stations, ARGO floats, drifting buoys, gliders, and ferry-boxes. It does provide discovering of data sets (both near real time and historical data sets), viewing and free and open downloading of the data from more than 4400 platforms. Moreover, the system provides full interoperability with third-party software through WMS service, Web Service and Web catalogue in order to exchange data and products according to the most recent interoperability standards. Recent developments ensure the compatibility to the OGS-SWE (Sensor Web Enablement) standard for the description of sensors and related observations using OpenGIS specifications (SensorML, O&M, SOS).