Ocean Datasets Inventory

Published 17 December 2025 · Source: Clients/Athena-Blue/Ocean-Datasets.md

Ocean Datasets Inventory

Generated: 2025-12-17 Source: Gemini Deep Research with Google Search Purpose: Comprehensive inventory for blue carbon and coastal ecosystem mapping projects

1. Blue Carbon Datasets

Mangroves

  • Global Mangrove Watch

    • Coverage: Global
    • Format: Geospatial
    • Provider: UNEP-WCMC
    • Access: Direct download/API

  • NSW Blue Carbon Datasets

    • Coverage: Coastal NSW, Australia
    • Provider: DPI Fisheries and Wollongong University
    • Temporal: Recent (2020+)
    • Access: NSW SEED Dataset Catalogue

  • North American Blue Carbon Map

    • Coverage: North America
    • Temporal: 2021
    • Format: Map Package, PDF, Shapefile
    • Provider: Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)

  • Mapping Ocean Wealth Portal

    • Coverage: Southeast Australia (expandable)
    • Published: 2019+
    • Provider: The Nature Conservancy
    • Features: Exportable maps

Seagrass & Salt Marshes

  • UNEP-WCMC Global Seagrass

    • Coverage: Global
    • Format: Geospatial
    • Access: Direct API/download

  • Global Tidal Marsh / Coastal Wetlands

    • Includes: Salt marshes, tidal wetlands
    • Temporal Range: Current

Kelp & Macroalgae

  • Limited datasets, but available through:
    • Sentinel-2 imagery
    • Google Earth Engine (indirect detection via NDVI)

Carbon Sequestration Rates

  • Coastal Carbon Library
    • Coverage: Global
    • Provider: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
    • Data Type: Profile data on carbon burial rates
    • Estimated Global: ~80 Tg C/year (1 Tg = 10^12 g)

2. Geophysical & Environmental Data

Elevation & Bathymetry

  • SRTM Digital Elevation Model (30m)

    • Coverage: Global (+/-60 degrees)
    • Resolution: 30 meters
    • Access: Google Earth Engine, direct download

  • Coastal Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)

    • Provider: NOAA/NCEI
    • Coverage: U.S. coasts + global
    • Resolution: 1/9 to 1/3 arc-second (~3-10m) to 1 arc-minute (~2km)
    • Updated regularly

  • EMODnet-Bathymetry

    • Coverage: European Seas
    • Format: Survey data + composite DTMs
    • Provider: European Commission

Ocean Currents & Circulation

  • NOS CO-OPS Active Currents Data

    • Provider: NOAA NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products
    • Temporal: 6-minute intervals
    • Coverage: US coastal waters

  • Marine Trackline Geophysical Database (NGDA)

    • Temporal: 1939-present
    • Coverage: Global
    • Provider: NOAA

Temperature, Salinity & Water Quality

  • Land and Sea Surface Temperature Products
    • Source: Google Earth Engine
    • Instruments: MODIS, ASTER, AVHRR, Landsat thermal
    • Coverage: Global
    • Temporal: Decadal+ archive

Coastal Dynamics

  • JRC Global Surface Water (1984-present)

    • Purpose: Erosion/shoreline change monitoring
    • Temporal: 40+ years
    • Resolution: 30m
    • Access: Google Earth Engine

  • Historical Shoreline Change Data

    • Available through NOAA/USGS databases

Storm & Wave Energy

  • ERA5 Reanalysis (Wind, Waves, Storms)
    • Temporal: Comprehensive historical
    • Variables: Wind speed, wave height, storm surge potential
    • Resolution: ~30km
    • Access: Copernicus Climate Data Store

Sea Level

  • Sea Level Trends
    • Provider: NOAA
    • Coverage: U.S. stations, some global
    • Data: Monthly mean sea level (MSL)
    • Temporal: Decadal+

3. Protection & Conservation Data

Marine Protected Areas

  • World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)

    • URL: Protected Planet (protectedplanet.net)
    • Coverage: Global
    • Updated: Monthly
    • Format: Point and polygon data (downloadable)
    • Provider: UNEP-WCMC + IUCN
    • Access: Free, programmatic

  • MPA Atlas

UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Marine/Coastal)

Ramsar Wetlands

  • Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites)
    • URL: Ramsar Sites Information Service
    • Coverage: Global
    • Updated: Regularly
    • Format: Shapefile + GeoJSON
    • Provider: Ramsar Convention
    • Features: Online Ramsar Information Sheets (RIS)

4. Biodiversity & Species Data

IUCN Red List

  • The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • URL: https://iucnredlist.org/
    • Coverage: Global
    • Updated: Regularly
    • Format: Shapefile, CSV, GeoJSON
    • Data: Range maps for threatened marine species
    • Access: Free, API available

Global Biodiversity

  • GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility)
    • URL: https://gbif.org/
    • Coverage: Global
    • Data: Species occurrence points
    • Format: Downloadable datasets
    • Provider: International network (government funded)
    • Access: Free, API available

Migratory Species

  • Limited dedicated global dataset
  • Track through IUCN + GBIF

5. Human Impact Data

Population & Settlement

  • World Bank, UN Population Division
    • Gridded population data (1km or better)
    • Coastal concentration analysis possible

Aquaculture Locations

  • FAO Aquaculture Production Statistics
    • Coverage: By country/region
    • Format: Tabular + some geospatial
    • Access: Free

Fishing Pressure

Pollution & Nutrient Loading

  • NOAA Hypoxia Monitoring
  • Regional assessments available

Plastic Pollution & Marine Debris

  • Ocean Cleanup Research
    • Study: Great Pacific Garbage Patch composition (fishing-related waste)
    • Publication: Scientific Reports
    • Limited global gridded dataset

Human Modification Index

  • Available through Google Earth Engine
  • Reflects anthropogenic pressure

6. Satellite & Remote Sensing Data

Landsat

  • Provider: USGS/NASA
  • Coverage: Global
  • Temporal: 1972-present
  • Resolution: 30m multispectral + 15m panchromatic
  • Access: Google Earth Engine, USGS Earth Explorer
  • Cost: Free

Sentinel-1 & Sentinel-2

  • Provider: European Commission/ESA
  • Coverage: Global
  • Temporal: 2015-present (Sentinel-2), 2014-present (Sentinel-1)
  • Resolution: 10m (Sentinel-2), 5-20m (Sentinel-1 SAR)
  • Access: Google Earth Engine, Copernicus Open Access Hub
  • Cost: Free

Planet Labs

  • Coverage: Global
  • Resolution: 3-5m (commercial but some free/subsidized for research)
  • Access: Planet API

Vegetation Indices

  • NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)
  • EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index)
  • Available through all Landsat/Sentinel products in Google Earth Engine

Google Earth Engine

  • URL: https://earthengine.google.com/
  • Features: Pre-processed global imagery archive (30+ years)
  • Access: Python/JavaScript API
  • Computational: Cloud-based processing
  • Cost: Free for research/education

Harmonized Landsat & Sentinel (HLS)

  • Resolution: 30m near-daily observations
  • Access: NASA LPDAAC
  • Harmonization: L2A surface reflectance

7. Non-GEE Open Data Sources & APIs

Data Portals

  • NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

  • Data.gov

  • Copernicus Climate Data Store

  • EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network)

    • Coverage: European Seas
    • Domains: Bathymetry, chemistry, biology, physics

Cloud-Optimized Formats

  • Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)
  • Zarr (optimized for cloud storage + parallel access)
  • Cloud-Optimized HDF5 / NetCDF-4
  • Parquet (columnar, for tabular data)

Data Access Methods

  • Direct Download: FTP/HTTP endpoints
  • OGC Web Services: WMS, WFS, WCS
  • APIs: REST endpoints (JSON/GeoJSON)
  • STAC: SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog

NetCDF/HDF5 Resources

  • Unidata THREDDS Data Server
  • OPeNDAP protocol for remote array access
  • Many oceanographic datasets in NetCDF4 format

Quick Reference Matrix

DatasetCoverageResolutionTemporalFormatFreeAPI
WDPAGlobalVectorUpdatedShapefileYesYes
JRC Surface WaterGlobal30m1984+GeoTIFFYesGEE
LandsatGlobal30m1972+GeoTIFFYesYes
Sentinel-2Global10m2015+JPEG2000YesYes
ERA5Global30km1950+NetCDFYesYes
IUCN Red ListGlobalVectorUpdatedShapefileYesYes
Ramsar SitesGlobalVectorUpdatedShapefileYesNo
GBIFGlobalPointsVariesCSV/GeoJSONYesYes
GFW FishingGlobalGrid2012+RasterYesYes

Integration Strategy for Your Project

Tier 1: Core Blue Carbon

  1. Global Mangrove Watch (UNEP-WCMC)
  2. UNEP-WCMC Global Seagrass
  3. Global Tidal Marsh Data
  4. Coastal Carbon Library (sequestration rates)

Tier 2: Environmental Context

  1. SRTM DEM (elevation/inundation)
  2. JRC Global Surface Water (erosion/changes)
  3. ERA5 Reanalysis (storms, exposure)
  4. Landsat/Sentinel (land cover monitoring)

Tier 3: Conservation & Impact

  1. WDPA (protected areas)
  2. Human Modification Index (pressure mapping)
  3. IUCN Red List (species at risk)
  4. Global Fishing Watch (human pressure)

Data Access Workflow

  1. Google Earth Engine for most satellite imagery (simplest)
  2. Protected Planet API for WDPA
  3. Copernicus Hub for Sentinel raw data
  4. Direct downloads for non-GEE sources (NOAA, EMODnet)
  5. Cloud-optimized formats for scale (Zarr/COG)

Additional Resources

Key Organizations

  • The Nature Conservancy - Mapping Ocean Wealth
  • UNEP-WCMC - Global datasets
  • NOAA - Oceanography, climate
  • ESA - Sentinel satellite data
  • NASA - Earth observation

Documentation

Notes

  • Coordinate Systems: Most global datasets use EPSG:4326 (WGS84) or Web Mercator (EPSG:3857)
  • Data Volume: Caution - some datasets (Landsat, Sentinel) create massive archives; use cloud processing
  • Licensing: All listed datasets are free/open, but verify terms of use per project requirements
  • Updates: Many core datasets update annually or monthly; establish automated sync procedures
  • Regional Gaps: Some regions (developing nations) have limited coverage; prioritize Tier 1 datasets