geo.be Metadata Catalog
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The law of 13 June 1969 defines “Belgian Continental Shelf” as follows: the seabed and the subsoil of the marine areas adjacent to the Belgian coast but beyond the Belgian territorial sea.
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Beach Litter count data collected across 10 beaches of the Belgian coast in 2023 and 2024 by volunteers of the citizen science association Proper Strand Lopers. One of the key indicators of abundance, composition and trends of litter in the marine environment is the amount on beaches. OSPAR monitors litter on 100m stretches at over 70 beaches in the North-East Atlantic following common monitoring guidelines. The monitoring records litter in 112 predefined litter items in 11 types: Plastic / polystyrene, Metal, Paper and cardboard, Wood, Sanitary waste, Cloth, Rubber, Glass, Pottery/ceramics, Medical waste and Faeces.
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UNDER EMBARGO - This dataset is part of BE/2023 sampling campagn in SW Greenland fjords (Igaliku and Tunulliarfik) and includes measurements of pelagic community respiration to assess microbial metabolic activity across fjords with contrasting glacial influence and seasonal conditions. Pelagic community respiration rates were determined following Martínez-García et al. (2009): seawater samples (200 mL; n = 4 replicates) were incubated with INT (final concentration 0.8 mM). Control samples were fixed with formaldehyde (2% final concentration) prior to incubation. After incubation, samples were filtered (0.2 μm), and the reduced INT (formazan) retained on filters was extracted with 1-propanol. Formazan concentration was determined spectrophotometrically at 485 nm, subtracting non-metabolic absorbance from controls. INT reduction rates were calculated as μmol INTf L⁻¹ h⁻¹ and subsequently converted to O₂ consumption rates (μmol O₂ L⁻¹ h⁻¹) following Martínez-García et al. (2019).
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UNDER EMBARGO - This dataset originates from the BE/2023 sampling campaign conducted in southwest Greenland fjords (Igaliku and Tunulliarfik) and quantifies grazing impacts by micro- and mesozooplankton on phytoplankton and heterotrophic microbial communities (including bacteria) in two fjord systems characterized by contrasting glacial regimes. Grazing and microbial growth rates were estimated using two-point dilution experiments (two-point dilution experiments), alongside experiments assessing mesozooplankton and copepod grazing on both phytoplankton and microzooplankton. Community responses were resolved using imaging flow cytometry, enabling the identification of plankton functional groups (autotrophic, mixotrophic, and heterotrophic) and size classes. The dataset also includes measurements of chlorophyll a variability determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Overall, the dataset supports analyses of trophic interactions and grazing dynamics across the microbial food web under differing glacier-influenced environmental conditions.
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INSPIRE compliant download service (WFS) for geographic information of the datasets of the Marine Strategic Framework Directive made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS).
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INSPIRE compliant download service (ATOM) for geographic information of the datasets of the Marine Strategic Framework Directive made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS).
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INSPIRE compliant view service for geographic information of marine datasets made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS) in the IDOD (Integrated and Dynamical Oceanographic Database) database.
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The seismic zoning map for Belgium was published in the Belgian national annex (NBN EN 1998-1 ANB) to the European building code Eurocode 8 (EN 1998-1), which became effective in all European member states in 2011. This map classifies Belgian communes into five seismic zones, corresponding to different values of the reference peak ground acceleration (PGA) to be taken into account in the design of structures for earthquake resistance. In combination with the importance class of the building and the ground type, the reference PGA is used to calculate the design response spectrum defining the accelerations that the structure should be able to withstand without collapse. For further details and the precise specifications, users should consult the normative documents, which can be ordered from the Bureau for Standardisation NBN (https://www.nbn.be/en). The Eurocode-8 seismic zoning map for Belgium was established by the Royal Observatory of Belgium, based on a reimplementation of the seismic hazard map of Leynaud et al. (2000) for a return period of 475 years (equivalent to 10% probability of exceedance in a timespan of 50 years). This hazard map was calculated following the principles of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment, and based on a simple model of seismic sources and their activity in and around Belgium, and a single ground-motion model (or “attenuation law”), describing PGA in function of earthquake magnitude and epicentral distance. To date, this is the only seismic hazard map that has been published specifically for Belgium, and it is still considered as the official seismic hazard map for Belgium.
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The earthquake catalogue and database of the Royal Observatory of Belgium contains source parameters of earthquakes that occurred in and around Belgium since 1350. Similar to most other seismic catalogues in the world, the ROB catalogue is heterogeneous, as it is based on the analysis of two different types of data: - Historical data: concern the period from about 1350 to 1910, for which only local reports about damage and felt effects (i.e. intensity) of earthquakes are available (“macroseismic” observations); - Instrumental data: concern the period from 1911 onward, the year continuous seismic recordings in Belgium started, up to the present day. For earthquakes during this period both intensity data (from macroseismic enquiries with the local authorities and, since 2000, on the internet) and seismic recordings are available. The earthquake catalogue is a list of earthquakes with the following parameters: origin time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second), geographic coordinates of the hypocenter (latitude, longitude, focal depth), magnitude (local magnitude ML, surface-wave magnitude Ms and/or moment magnitude Mw), maximum observed intensity, and the name of the locality. The ROB catalogue is considered to be complete: - Since 1350 for earthquakes with Mw>=5.0; - Since 1905 for earthquakes with Mw>=4.0 (seismic station in Uccle and neighboring countries); - Since 1960 for earthquakes with Mw>=3.0 (4 stations in Belgium); - Since 1985 for earthquakes with Mw>=2.0 (modern digital network consisting of 20+ stations).
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INSPIRE compliant download service (ATOM) for geographic information of the Marine Spatial Plan made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS).