Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS)

OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System) is the global open-access hub for marine biodiversity data. It supports science, conservation and sustainable development, and operates as a programme component of IOC-UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE).

OBIS delivers fully operational, integrated, ready-to-use, high-quality and trusted marine biodiversity data. It empowers researchers and supports decision-makers worldwide to improve the future of the Ocean. OBIS data is trusted, reliable, and actionable.

Vision

OBIS aims to be the most comprehensive and trusted gateway to the world’s ocean biodiversity and biogeographic data, providing the knowledge needed to advance science, support conservation and improve the health of the Ocean.

Mission

OBIS’s mission is to standardize, quality control, integrate and share marine biodiversity data with a global community of researchers, policymakers, and the public. To achieve these objectives, OBIS builds and maintains a global alliance of regional and thematic nodes working with scientific communities that facilitates free and open (FAIR) access to, and application of, biodiversity and biogeographic data on marine life.

OBIS a scientific programme with 25 years of existence. It originated under the Census of Marine Life (2000–2010), was adopted by IOC-UNESCO under IODE in 2009, and is today operated as an IODE Programme Component with a Secretariat hosted at the IOC Project Office for IODE in Ostend, Belgium.

OBIS is organized as a community of 30 regional and 7 thematic nodes gathering over 1,000 institutions and over 6,000 scientists and data managers from 99 countries. OBIS aggregates and integrates datasets so users can search and map records seamlessly by species name, higher taxonomic level, geographic area, depth, time and environmental parameters.

More details about OBIS available at the OBIS website.

Contact

OBIS helpdesk

OBIS nodes