The Royal Decree of 20 March 2026 establishing the marine spatial plan for the period 2026 to 2034 in the Belgian marine areas defines 12 sand and gravel extraction zones: Sand and gravel extraction sector 1a (Thorntonbank) (Art. 19§1.1°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 4d (Art. 19§1.10°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 5 (Blighbank) (Art. 19§1.11°), Sand extraction sector 2kb (Kwintebank) (Art. 19§1.2°), Sand extraction sector 2br (Buiten Ratel) (Art. 19§1.3°), Sand extraction sector 2od (Oostdyck) (Art. 19§1.4°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 3a (Sierra Ventana) (Art. 19§1.5°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 3b (Sierra Ventana) (Art. 19§1.6°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 4a (Noordhinder) (Art. 19§1.7°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 4b (Oosthinder North) (Art. 19§1.8°), Sand and gravel extraction sector 4c (Oosthinder South) (Art. 19§1.9°), Extraction search zone (Art. 19§4). It replaces the 2020 Marine Spatial Plan. Please refer to the Belgian official gazette ("Moniteur belgeBelgisch Staatsblad") for official reference information.

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.

An hillshade is a homogeneous and regular points grid, indicating the grey tone deriving from their orientation relative to the chosen fictitious light source. The Hillshade DSM 1m is a representation of the hillshading of the DSM 1m.

This dataset contains marine organic matter source samples, artificial mixtures of known composition, and compound-specific nitrogen stable isotope data of amino acids (δ¹⁵N-AA). Source materials include phytoplankton, zooplankton, and faecal pellets from the marine fouling species Mytilus edulis and Metridium senile. Samples were collected and processed in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Artificial mixtures were prepared by combining source materials in defined proportions to generate experimental samples representing multiple marine organic matter source combinations. Metadata describing sample collection, preparation, and mixture composition are included. Compound-specific nitrogen isotope ratios of individual amino acids were measured using stable isotope analysis. The dataset includes isotopic measurements for all source samples and artificial mixtures, along with associated metadata required to document sampling, laboratory preparation, and analytical procedures.

This dataset represents the location of the Princess Elizabeth zone in the Belgian Part of the North Sea as described in the Royal Decree of May 22th, 2019, establishing a marine spatial plan for the period 2020-2026. Art. 8. § 3.

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.

The DTM 1m, digital terrain model at 1m-resolution, is a homogeneous and regular point grid indicating the height of the ground level in order to model its surface, without taking into account objects on the surface such as buildings and vegetation. DTM 1m is achieved by interpolating in Lambert 2008 source data in Lambert 72 and at a 1m-resolution from the Flemish (2013-2015) and Brussels (2021) Regions, and by adding Lambert 2008 data at 1m-resolution from the Walloon Region (2021-2022).

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 7, criterion 1. This dataset describes the impact of an offshore windmills farm on the hydrodynamics in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS). Originally, it is a NetCDF file with the results of the reference simulation made with the COHERENS (COupled Hydrodynamical Ecological model for REgioNal Shelf seas) hydrodynamic model only forced by tides (no wind effect). Model resolution : ~ 12.5m. It contains both the reference situation which is a simulation without any windmill and the modeling result of the influence by the windmills on the hydrodynamic in the BPNS. The dataset contains the results on the most inner nested grid level for one reference spring-neap cycle: - hourly sea surface elevation - hourly bottom shear stress - hourly 3D horizontal velocity components (u,v) - hourly 3D eddy viscosity - time-averaged bottom shear stress over the reference spring-neap cycle - percentile 90 of the bottom shear stress for the reference spring-neap cycle - percentile 90 of the specific kinetic energy at the sea bed - accumulated time during which sedimentation processes are dominant - accumulated time during which re-suspension processes are dominant.

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).

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.