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There are several research infrastructures or other data services running in Europe that cover a multitude of marine-related sciences, providing specific datasets coming from observations collected with different methods. These infrastructures constitute a diverse world, each looking at a piece of the big picture, sometimes hindering collaboration and data sharing. Blue-Cloud aims to overcome fragmentation and build a bridge between thematic science clusters - such as marine, climate, food and agriculture sciences - and EOSC, creating a data federation and providing a common access to a so-called thematic EOSC for marine data. By connecting leading marine data management infrastructures with horizontal e-infrastructures, the project aims to maximise the exploitation of data resources available from different sources. The Blue-Cloud framework consists of two major technical components: (1) a Blue-Cloud Data Discovery and Access service, already presented in a previous EOSC in practice story, to serve federated discovery and access to blue data infrastructures, and (2) a Blue-Cloud Virtual Research Environment (VRE) to provide computing platforms and analytical services facilitating the collaboration between researchers, which is detailed hereafter. The Blue-Cloud VRE is powered by the D4Science Infrastructure. [M. Assante et al. (2019) Enacting open science by D4Science. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 101: 555-563 10.1016/j.future.2019.05.063 ] The full list of EOSC in practice stories is available here

This dataset presents temperature and precipitation reconstruction from pollen records of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the pollen proxy data where retrieved from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database (https://www.neotomadb.org/), with additional data from Cao et al. (2020; https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-119-2020), Cao et al. (2013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2013.02.003) and our own collection. Mean July temperature, annual mean temperature and annual precipitation were reconstructed for 2593 sites (1030 sites in North America, 1075 sites in Europe and 488 sites in Asia) using the full modern temperature and precipitation range, as well as using a "tailored" version, where we restricted a climate variable range to reconstruct the respective other climate variable in order to minimize the impact of co-correlation. Statistics on the used calibration sets (i.e. all samples within 2000 km distance to the fossil pollen records) are also provided, as well as results from the significance test of the reconstructions sensu Telford & Birks (2011). The data collection is subdivided in 4 geographical regions: The European, the Asian and for North America the Western North American and the Eastern North American sector. We complement the data publication by providing the source information on the references (most data are related to Neotoma) as a table linked to each Dataset ID, The Dataset- and Site-IDs are from Neotoma if the data sets are derived from the Neotoma repository. In case of our own data collection efforts (Cao et al. (2020), Cao et al. (2013) and our own data) we used the already published PANGAEA event names in case they are related to the data or created own site names with referencing to geographical regions similar to the Neotoma data naming principle.

This bundled publication contains data sets on 1) Polyp size and sex: biometric data of polyps from Dendrophyllia ramea, as well as the sex of each analysed polyp; 2) Oocyte per mesentery: number of oocytes per analysed mesentery; 3) Oocytes per polyp: these data have been used to calculate fecundity; 4) Oocyte developmental stages: oocyte sizes and developmental stage are included; 5. Spermatic cysts: spermatic cysts sizes and developmental stage are included. A total of three polyps per each coral colony have been analysed by histological methods and a total of three coral colonies have been analysed for each sampling month: February 2018, May 2017, July 2018 and October 2017. Samples have been collected in the protected area of Punta La Mona (Granada, Alborán Sea, western Mediterranean) between 30 and 37 meters depth by scuba diving.

This study aimed at isolating microorganisms associated with the mesopelagic jellyfish Periphylla periphylla collected in Irminger Sea at a depth of 325 m in July 2020. Three different solid cultivation media; Hastings, Marine agar and Wickerham media were used for the isolation of the associated microorganisms. A total of 43 bacteria were isolated from the inner and outer surfaces of the umbrella of P. periphylla, but unfortunately, no fungal strain was isolated. Isolates were further identified by Sanger sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, and based on phylogenetic distinctiveness (differences in closest relative species according to the nucleotide BLAST), 16 bacteria belonging to 8 different genera were selected and subjected to an OSMAC cultivation regime approach using liquid and solid marine broth and glucose– yeast–malt media. After 7 days of cultivation, cultures were extracted with ethyl acetate and assessed for antimicrobial activity against fish and human pathogens. Based on antimicrobial activity assessment, four most bioactive strains; Polaribacter sp. SU124, Shewanella sp. SU126, Psychrobacter sp. SU143 and Psychrobacter sp. SU137, were prioritized for a comparative and untargeted metabolomics analysis using feature-based molecular networking. These findings highlight the biotechnological potential of P. periphylla-associated microbiota.

Here, we present internal reflection horizons (IRHs) picked in radargrams in the Dome Fuji region, Antarctica based on 22 radar profiles collected with the airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) system of the AWI mounted on its Basler BT-67 aircraft during the 2016/17 Antarctic season. 6 or 7 IRHs are traced in each radargram. The IRHs are then conneced to the Dome Fuji ice core and used to transfer the age-depth scale from the ice core to the large Dome Fuji region. The age-depth information of the IRHs are then input to a 1D ice flow model to recostruct the age field in the lower part of ice, and to evaluate basal thermal state.

Results from six firn cores obtained during a 426 km long northern Greenland traverse in 2015 between the NEEM and the EGRIP deep drilling stations situated on the Western and Eastern side of the Greenland ice sheet, respectively. The cores (9 to 14 m long) are analysed for chemical impurities by means of Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA); Insoluble dust, ammonium, calcium, acid, conductivity and peroxide. The data was dated by means of annual layer counting of mainly peroxide supplemented by calcium seasonal cycles and spans 18 to 53 years (±3 yrs) depending on local snow accumulation that decreases from west to east. Insoluble dust, ammonium, and calcium concentrations in the 6 firn cores overlap, and also the seasonal cycles are similar in timing and magnitude across sites, while peroxide (H2O2) and conductivity both have spatial variations. H2O2 is driven by the accumulation pattern and conductivity is likely influenced by sea salt. Data is published as part of Kjær et al. 2022, Climate of the past, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-99

Three high resolution multicore records have been collected at three sites in the western Mediterranean with a MC400-Multicorer system during the MedSeA cruise (Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a changing climate) on 2 May to 2 June 2013 onboard the R/V Angeles Álvarino. Core MedSeA-S3-c1 was retrieved in the Alboran basin (Lat. 36.0746° N, Long. 04.11040° W) at a water depth of 1137 m, with a core length of 33 cm. Core MedSeA-S23-c1 was recovered at a water depth of 1156 m in the Balearic basin offshore Barcelona (Lat. 41.1121° N, Long. 2.38200° E) with a core length of 43 cm. MedSeA-S7-c2 was collected at the Strait of Sicily (Lat. 37.7080° N, Long. 12.40553° E) at a water depth of 263 m, with a core length of 46.5 cm. All three cores have been analyzed for changes in size normalized weight (SNW) and stable carbon isotopes (δ13C), measured in planktic foraminiferal clacite shells of the two species Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides elongatus. Boron (δ11B) isotopes have been measured in tests of Globigerinoides elongatus at the Alboran site, and in Globigerinoides ruber albus at the Strait of Sicily. Complementary data for the Strait of Sicily record has been obtained, including a 210Pb based age depth model, sea surface temperatures (SST), alkenone concentrations and planktic foraminiferal assemblage changes. The Strait of Sicily record (MedSeA-S7-c2) covers around the last 200 a, describing environmental changes throughout the Industrial Era (IE) at high temporal resolution. The Alboran (MedSeA-S3-c1) and Balearic Sea (MedSeA-S23-c1) records spanning the last about 1 ka at lower temporal resolution, displaying oceanographic changes throughout the transition from the pre-industrial era to present, as discussed in (Pallacks et al., 2021; doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103549). Data has been collected to investigate the response of marine calcifiers to the combined effects of climate change stressors on decadal to centennial timescales, caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Despite the current high level of safety and the efforts to make passenger ships resilient to most fire and flooding scenarios, there are still gaps and challenges in the marine emergency response and ship evacuation processes. Those challenges arise from the fact that both processes are complex, multi-variable problems that rely on parameters involving not only people and technology but also procedural and managerial issues. SafePASS Project, funded under EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, is set to radically redefine the evacuation processes by introducing new equipment, expanding the capabilities of legacy systems on-board, proposing new Life-Saving Appliances and ship layouts, and challenging the current international regulations, hence reducing the uncertainty, and increasing the efficiency in all the stages of ship evacuation and abandonment process.

We combine consistently dated benthic carbon isotopic records distributed over the entire Atlantic Ocean with numerical simulations performed by a glacial configuration of the Norwegian Earth System Model with active ocean biogeochemistry, in order to interpret the observed Cibicides δ13C changes at the stadial-interstadial transition corresponding to the end of Heinrich Stadial 4 (HS4) in terms of ocean circulation and remineralization changes. We show that the marked increase in Cibicides δ13C observed at the end of HS4 between ~2000 and 4200 m in the Atlantic can be explained by changes in nutrient concentrations as simulated by the model in response to the halting of freshwater input in the high latitude glacial North Atlantic. Our model results show that this Cibicides δ13C signal is associated with changes in the ratio of southern-sourced (SSW) versus northern-sourced (NSW) water masses at the core sites, whereby SSW is replaced by NSW as a consequence of the resumption of deep water formation in the northern North Atlantic and Nordic Seas after the freshwater input is halted. Our results further suggest that the contribution of ocean circulation changes to this signal increases from ~40 % at 2000 m to ~80 % at 4000 m. Below ~4200 m, the model shows little ocean circulation change but an increase in remineralization across the transition marking the end of HS4. The simulated lower remineralization during stadials than interstadials is particularly pronounced in deep subantarctic sites, in agreement with the decrease in the export production of carbon to the deep Southern Ocean during stadials found in previous studies.

Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications at the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used large scale mesocosms (filled with 3 m3 of seawater) to simulate future ocean scenarios. We explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of particulate carbohydrates and proteins in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a 3% reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the underlying water. This reduction suggests direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the marine uptake of CO2, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea’s boundary layer with the atmosphere.