Blue-Cloud 2026 - D2.7 Tuning between Blue-Cloud Data Lakes and DTO development, 2nd report

By working closely with long-term EU marine data services (i.e., EMODnet and Copernicus Marine), and research data infrastructures (i.e., EuroArgo, SeaDataNet, Ecotaxa and others), Blue-Cloud is introducing a federated model, offering e-infrastructure services (computing, storage, analytics, SSO, AAI, generic service), a data discovery service (10M+ datasets and products from European marine infrastructures), and research intensive virtual labs, embedded in a VRE open to any users with federated identity.

Blue-Cloud effectively piloted a marine thematic node within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), supporting high-quality marine science and contributing to the European Digital Twin Ocean programme and its implementing facilities. In parallel, it fostered a strong collaborative framework to support and contribute to the European Digital Twin Ocean initiative, EDITO.

Building on the success of this pilot phase, the established infrastructure and community have since evolved and are now officially recognized as the EOSC Node | European Digital Twin Ocean — a core component of the EOSC Federation dedicated to advancing and supporting the marine and water research communities.

The implementation and operationalisation of this thematic EOSC Node is being further advanced through the EOSC Marine project, which aims to establish the EOSC Node | European Digital Twin Ocean as a sustainable entry point to marine and freshwater data, services, computing resources and virtual research environments within the EOSC Federation. By building upon the foundations laid by Blue-Cloud and leveraging key European marine infrastructures and services, EOSC Marine will strengthen interoperability, accessibility and uptake of marine research resources across Europe.

At the same time, the EOSC node will continue to support the EC Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters", its work programme and the development of the European Digital Twin Ocean, which aims to model the ocean's multiple components, provide knowledge and understanding of the past and present, and create trustworthy predictions of its future behaviour. In this context, the EOSC node will contribute to strengthening the links between EDITO, the public infrastructure supporting the European DTO, and EOSC, while the EOSC Marine project further advances the integration of marine research services within the EOSC Federation.

A first version of this document was prepared and released early February 2025 in response to a request of DG RTD, DG MARE and DG DEFIS to clarify the positioning of Blue-Cloud with regard to EMODnet, EDITO and EOSC, on how the outputs of Blue-Cloud could be offered as key resources in operational services e.g., EMODnet, EDITO, EOSC Marine Node, and how Blue-Cloud could act as a marine thematic node and link to the EOSC, including promoting in EOSC the exploitation of EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service data via the EDITO catalogue, as well as potentially other EDITO services and products. The first release has contributed to the EU decisioning process on the future of Blue-Cloud to become the EOSC Node | European Digital Twin Ocean. The current version of this document includes an updating of earlier thinking and details the pathway forward. To compile this document, in total 3 meetings of the DTO Task Force took place within the Blue-Cloud 2026 project. The minutes of those meetings have been added as annexes.