Online resources for marine ecosystem analysis for the NF-POGO Centre of Excellence in Observational Oceanography (CofE)
IOC/OTGA/NF-POGO(CofE)
Training Course
24 - 28 November 2025
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Fisheries and Marine Institute
P.O. Box 4920
St. John’s Newfoundland A1C 5R3
Canada
Organiser(s) & Staff
Participation
By invitation only.
This introductory training is designed for participants beginning to work with online ocean data. The course provides practical guidance on accessing freely available in situ and remote oceanographic datasets, and on using open-source software tools to generate basic ocean data products. Participants will gain experience in obtaining key oceanographic variables—including data from the World Ocean Database, sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a concentration, wind, and surface currents—and in visualizing and processing them to support initial analysis and assessment of meso- to large-scale marine and coastal ecosystems.
Venue
Marine Institute of Memorial University. St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada
Learning outcomes
As a result of this course, CofE scholars will acquire basic knowledge to:
- Obtaining relevant oceanographic variables such as ocean surface temperature, chlorophyll-a concentration, surface currents,
- Visualising and developing products to support initial, analysis and assessment of meso to large-scale marine and coastal ecosystems.
Target audience
The training is open to the 10 CofE scholars. More information on the training programme at https://www.ofi.ca/programs/centre/program
Pre-requisites:
Participants must:
-
Have prior knowledge of oceanography;
-
Bring their own laptop;
-
A working knowledge of English.
Course content
Module 1: Introduction to Ocean Observation
- Importance of observational oceanography and the Global Ocean Observing System
- Platforms for collecting and visualising oceanographic data
Module 2: Defining Area of Interest & Folder structure
- Selection and delimitation of area of interest.
- Organisation of folder structure and file names
Module 3: Ocean Data View & World Ocean Data database
- The World Ocean Database (WOD), select and download WOD data
- The Ocean Data View (ODV), download and install ODV
- Create data collection on ODV
- Import and analyse WOD data on ODV
- Quality control on ODV
- Prepare and export products on ODV
- Geographic Coordination System and Basic GIS file formats
- QGIS, download and install, basic layout
Module 5: Creating a GIS project with basic marine and auxiliary data
- Sources of basic, auxiliary data sources for marine GIS
- Import shape and raster format data into the GIS
- Shape and raster layers clipping
- Prepare map figure
- Obtain Essential Ocean Variables from diverse portals
- GIS tools such as interpolation, clipping with masks, extract isolines from raster, raster calculator, derive vectors from scalar components
Module 7: Online visualisation of oceanographic products
- Acquaint with oceanographic data portals and their basic tools for plotting and consulting oceanographic parameters of interest
- Export products (figures, plots, data, GIS format files)
Language of instruction: English
Duration, Synchronous Sessions, and Format
The training will take place face-to-face between 24 to 28 November, 2025, with a duration of approximately 35 hours.
Live sessions are planned from Monday to Friday, from 9:00-12:30 and 13:30-17:00.
The course has an online learning component to complement the learning activities and assessments. Live online sessions may be broadcasted if one or more scholars are not able to be present on-site.
Instructors
Organizers
Participation
This course is offered by NF-POGO Centre of Excellence in Observational Oceanography programme to its scholars.
POGO and UNESCO are committed to promoting equal access principles. Participation from minority or underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged.
Assessment & Certificate
Participants will carry out guided exercises in the classroom and OTGA e-Learning platform, focusing first on a shared Area of Interest (AOI). They will then apply the same methods individually to a second AOI of their choice. On the final day, each participant will present their results to the group, demonstrating the skills acquired throughout the training. The 12 assignments and the final presentation will be graded, and sucessfull completion will require achieving 70% passmark.
Contacts
- Course Coordinator: Lilian A. Krug lakrug@ualg.pt
- OTGA Secretariat: ioc.training@unesco.org
Costs
Free of charge. There are no tuition fees.
Cancellation policy
In the event of cancellation of the course by the OTGA or its affiliates, we will provide notification of cancellation at least 7 days prior to the course date. In the event of cancellation by the attendee, we should receive notification of cancellation at least 7 days prior to the course date.
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Label(s): OceanTeacher Global Academy Training course
Created at 09:48 on 06 Oct 2025 by Ana Carolina Mazzuco
Last Updated at 17:17 on 06 Nov 2025 by Sofie de Baenst