Data quality and FAIR principles applied to marine litter data in Europe

Abstract

High quality and integrated information able to show marine litter distribution at a global scale is a crucial goal to tackle the environmental problem. One of the important gaps is the definition of a global monitoring protocol and reporting. Large data infrastructures can provide a sustainable framework to host harmonized and standard litter data that can be used and re-used for any purpose, including assessment. EMODnet Chemistry has collected marine litter data since 2016 and has adopted different strategies for the management of the diverse litter data types, exploiting the advantages deriving from the application of the FAIR principles in marine litter data stewardship. The quality of the released data sets is improved allowing a better consistency within data values collected in different contexts (several countries, different techniques, …).