This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 5, criterion 1. This dataset contains the nutrient concentrations (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, total nitrogen, phosphorus) measured on water samples taken in the BPNS between 2011 and 2016. The analysis of nutrients (N and P) is ensured by the national monitoring programme at ten sampling locations that are representative for the surrounding water masses. Based on all 2011-2016 results, the relationship with the salt content was calculated and, for each year, the value derived corresponding to a salt content of 33.5. The surface of the area where the nutrient concentrations exceed the respective thresholds was calculated on the basis of the relationship with the winter salt content and a climatology of the spatial distribution of the salt content (see annex D5 of the Belgian MSFD report). The resulting maps give a good overview of nutrient concentrations in the Belgian zone. In order to take into account the coastal-sea gradient and to illustrate the temporal trends in detail, the concentrations were also evaluated in three different areas of the BPNS: the coastal zone, the territorial zone and the open-sea zone. The long-term trends of nutrient concentrations in the three zones were assessed statistically.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 6, criterion 1. This dataset describes and maps the the physical loss of the seabed in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) in the period 2011-2016. The dataset combines the different human activities responsible for a loss of seabed, including wrecks, measuring piles and radar stations, pipelines, power and telecommunication cables with their rock dump, and wind farms. The area lost is mapped and quantified per year, per activity and per benthic broad habitat.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 6, criterion 2. This dataset describes and maps the physical disturbance to the seabed in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) between 2011 and 2016. The dataset combines different layers of human activities leading to a disturbance of the seabed, including power cables with its rock dump, dredging and dumping, extraction, war ammunition stocking and wind farms. The area disturbed is mapped and quantified per year, per activity and per benthic broad habitat.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 8, criterion 3. This dataset gives an overview of the observed slicks during aerial survey operations of the Belgian part of the North Sea (2011-2016). Related to significant acute pollution, it includes the observations linked to the Flinterstar incident in 2015. Besides this, all observations of illegal discharges of MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) annex I and II substances are included as an additional dataset.

This dataset is part of the 2024 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 3, criteria 1, 2 and 3. It provides the fishing mortality rate, spawning stock biomass and population age/size distribution of commercially-exploited fish and shellfish in the Belgian part of the North Sea, combining fishery-independent survey data (Beam Trawl Survey and Demersal Young Fish Survey) with fishery-dependent observer-at-sea data collected under the Common Fisheries Policy Data Collection Framework. ICES provides the resulting scientific advice to the governments and international regulatory bodies that manage the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.

This dataset is part of the 2024 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 6. This dataset reports on phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS), including community composition, diversity, biomass and abundance, as an indicator of pelagic habitat condition.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 3. Occurrence of breeding seabirds describes the observation of eight seabird species (Common tern, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Small Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged gull, Big Stern and Little Stern) on the Belgian coast between 1992 and 2015.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 2. The Raja clavata dataset describes the results of the Offshore Beam Trawl Surveys (BTS) in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) between 2010 and 2017. Occurrences of Raja Clavata, along with dates and locations, are reported. The codes used in the attached file are based on the ICES DATRAS (Database of Trawl Surveys) standard. The seabirds dataset describes the density of seabirds (N birds/km) observed in the BPNS between 1987 and 2016 (three surveys a year).

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 8, criterion 4. This dataset contains measurements on the 7-Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in Limanda limanda, Imposex (OTIN in Mytilus edulis), fish diseases and counts of oiled common guillemots in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

UNDER EMBARGO - This dataset is part of BE/2023 sampling campagn in SW Greenland fjords (Igaliku and Tunulliarfik). Pelagic community was analysed using Imaging Flow Cytometry (iFCM) with an ImageStream®X Mk II. Cells were grouped into functional size classes—pico-, nano- and microplankton—according to measured cell length. Cells lacking chlorophyll autofluorescence were classified as heterotrophic or chemotrophic organisms, including heterotrophic picoplankton/bacteria (HP; ≤2 µm) and heterotrophic nanoplankton (HN; 2–20 µm). No larger heterotrophs (>20 µm) were visually detected. Autofluorescent cells were considered phototrophic, although this fraction may also include mixotrophic taxa, and comprised picophytoplankton (AP; ≤2 µm), nanophytoplankton (AN; 2–20 µm), and microphytoplankton (AMicro; 20–100 µm). To estimate the biovolume of each plankton class, the two-dimensional cell surface area measured by the IDEAS® imaging software was multiplied by the mean cell width, assuming that cell width approximates the third spatial dimension. Carbon biomass was subsequently derived from biovolume using established carbon–volume relationships. For the HP fraction, carbon content was estimated using the bacterial conversion proposed by Romanova and Sazhin (2010), where volume is expressed in µm³. Although the HP fraction may also include heterotrophic picoeukaryotes, and its biomass may therefore be partly underestimated, this conversion was applied because the fraction was assumed to be numerically dominated by bacteria. For the other protist groups, carbon biomass was derived following Menden-Deuer and Lessard (2000). Carbon values were converted from pg C cell⁻¹ to carbon biomass (µg C L⁻¹) based on cell abundance.