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MOZAIEK: a tiled approach to a bigger ocean picture

3 August 2026

MOZAIEK GOOS BioEco EOVs FUST IOCARIBE
Photo: Adam Moore / Kogia

Photo: Adam Moore / Kogia


In the face of the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, researchers and decision-makers need to bring biological, biogeochemical, physical, and environmental data together under a holistic approach. Yet that information, when it exists, is often scattered across platforms, formats, scales, and repositories, which delays its use. MOZAIEK aims to close that gap. The three-year project builds an infrastructure of harmonized, fit-for-purpose biodiversity data packages that can be combined and assembled to give users the actionable information they need. The project is led by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, in partnership with the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and IOCARIBE, and supported by the [Flanders UNESCO Science Trust Fund]8https://fust.iode.org/en) (FUST).

An amplifier for scattered ocean data

“Mozaiek” is the Dutch word for “mosaic”, an image formed by arranging many individual tiles. The name reflects the project’s driving principle: integrating fragmented marine biodiversity and environmental information into a single biodiversity data package, a tile, that can be used on its own, chained, combined, or integrated as a component into larger systems. “MOZAIEK is an amplifier,” explains Silas Principe, OBIS Data Researcher, who led the development of the project’s core concept and was one of the main contributors to its proposal. “It mobilizes existing but scattered marine observations to transform them into unified biodiversity data packages containing multiple levels of information.”

At a strategic level, MOZAIEK reinforces two crucial needs: maximizing the mobilization and use of existing ocean observations and revealing gaps in areas where data is most required. Designed as the foundation for a long-term architecture, the project acts as a reusable processing layer between individual datasets and downstream applications. MOZAIEK can reduce the need for data users to repeat finding, curating, cleaning, aligning, and documenting data aggregations. It shortens the data-to-decision chain and makes it more coherent, efficient, and responsive to user needs.

Designed as the foundation for a long-term architecture, the project acts as a reusable processing layer between individual datasets and downstream applications


“MOZAIEK provides the needed connection between ocean observations and action,” says Joanna Post, Head of the Ocean Observations and Services Section at IOC and Director of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). “It brings the OBIS and GOOS communities together in a joint effort to assemble fragmented data into a connected whole. This integration is vital to provide science and policy with the information needed to understand our fast-changing ocean in all its scale and complexity.”

What does a MOZAIEK biodiversity data package contain?

Each MOZAIEK biodiversity package is a specialized, reusable, and interoperable integration product. The packages are developed and optimized for actionability. They are fit-for-purpose by design: each package is co-designed in consultation with its future users, driving data curation so it can optimally answer multiple end-user needs. Depending on its purpose, a package can integrate biodiversity observations from multiple datasets and monitoring methods, quantitative measurements, environmental information, metadata on how the data were collected, a record of the original datasets and providers, and quality-control and uncertainty information. The content is curated to maximize the package’s relevance to its intended use.

MOZAIEK brings the OBIS and GOOS communities together in a joint effort to assemble fragmented data into a connected whole.


That content is produced through a transparent, documented data chain. “Biodiversity data packages are built through open and modular pipelines,” explains Silas Principe. “The pipelines apply quality control and taxonomic validation to the aggregated data, apply spatial and temporal alignment, and verify the methodological harmonisation. Each step is documented. The end result is an analysis-ready data product holding a higher societal value than the sum of its parts.” Integrated data are harmonized using the Darwin Core standard, while each package is assigned an EMODnet processing level that indicates how extensively the source observations have been transformed. This gives users the ability to select the degree of integration their work requires and to have better control of the ingested data. In addition, each data package receives a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) with a documented provenance chain, allowing source data to be tracked and ensuring recognition for the original contributors. The DOI will also, when applicable, recognize the OBIS Node that published each dataset. To ensure high uptake, the MOZAIEK data packages will be deployed on the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EDITO). They are made available through open pathways, including APIs, and are supported by a set of training and documentation resources.

A distinctive feature of MOZAIEK is that each package comes with a corresponding gap product. Once observations from many sources have been harmonized and analysed together, the project can show where evidence remains limited across four dimensions: spatial, taxonomic, temporal, and methodological. This information flows back to the ocean observing community through a feedback loop, helping to guide future monitoring and data-mobilization efforts to where they are most needed.

To further increase actionability, the packages are aligned with the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs). The project plans to develop a minimum of 10 biodiversity data packages, aligned with 5 Biology and Ecosystems Essential Ocean Variables (BioEco EOVs). This alignment helps strengthen the data structure of the packages while increasing comparability and integration into applications and reporting. It also anchors the project across two major ocean communities: OBIS and GOOS.

Real-world applications

The project will showcase its actionability through a real-life use case: marine heatwaves in the Caribbean. As our climate changes, marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense, and persistent, with far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. Through the Marine Heatwaves Exemplar of the GOOS Ocean Observing Co-Design Programme, MOZAIEK will identify the biological information needed to assess heatwave impacts on ecosystems, define priority uses with stakeholders, and test whether its packages are up to the task. The Caribbean Sea was chosen as the pilot region for its combination of exceptional biodiversity and high climate vulnerability, where local livelihoods depend closely on healthy marine ecosystems.

Through the Marine Heatwaves Exemplar of the GOOS Ocean Observing Co-Design Programme, MOZAIEK will identify the biological information needed to assess heatwave impacts on ecosystems, define priority uses with stakeholders, and test whether its packages are up to the task.


In addition, to demonstrate that the MOZAIEK biodiversity data packages can work across fields, systems and regions, researchers from Flemish research institutions and academia will be involved to test them in complementary applications, spanning e.g., phytoplankton dynamics, environmental DNA, fisheries, and macroalgae distribution.

Beyond the project scope, the MOZAIEK infrastructure can support indicators, decision-support tools, and early-warning services around the world, removing the need for data preparation and increasing the responsiveness of the data-derived products it contributes to. The MOZAIEK biodiversity data packages can also serve as shared baseline information for global assessment and reporting processes, where data supports evidence-based decision-making, such as those under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the BBNJ Agreement.

Built with communities

MOZAIEK relies on a collaborative and inclusive approach to deliver its content. The OBIS and GOOS communities, and the OBIS Nodes in particular, can contribute to building and adapting the open modular pipelines supporting the project and help accelerate the uptake of its outcomes. Both communities are also involved in the gap product feedback loop, helping move information on data needs upstream and contributing to establishing priority lists taking into account feasibility and available resources, as well as local, regional, and thematic contexts to drive data mobilization efforts where the coverage is the thinnest.

Crucially, MOZAIEK is being developed as an integrated extension of existing infrastructures, rather than as a stand-alone project platform. The data packages are intended to remain available through OBIS and to be refreshed as new observations enter OBIS, while the open modular pipelines can continue to be maintained and improved through OBIS, EDITO, and additional contributions, turning the project into a longer-term, community-anchored initiative.

Finally, beyond their initial OBIS and GOOS core, the MOZAIEK packages have the potential to serve much broader user communities, ranging from marine scientists to marine spatial planners and managers, national and regional oceanographic initiatives, as well as the wider ocean economy. If scaled up, MOZAIEK holds the potential to become a powerful, efficient, and accessible interface that helps turn marine observation data into action. ◼️

The project at a glance