Scientific Web sites and Applications Team blog
Everything you need to know about scientific web development at OD Nature...

The FLOAT User Interface has been migrated

Since today the FLOAT UI web site is available on odnature.naturalsciences.be.

FLOAT was our flagship drift model between 2007 and 2012 and has proved to be a valuable tool reaping numerous successes at both national and European levels. For instance, it allowed predicting oil spill trajectories and beaching risks, contributing to the identification and prosecution of polluters or helped Police to solve missing person cases whose bodies were found back drifting at sea. The web interface further helped showcasing the model and allowed non-modellers to start and visualise results of 2D simulations on-the-fly.

FLOAT has been superseded by OSERIT in 2012 but is still used and maintained by OD Nature's MFC and SWAP teams.

Please note that the use of FLOAT is restricted to authorised personnel.

FLOAT: Interface to a 2D drift model

FLOAT is a user-friendly interface to a 2D drift model which allows OD Nature staff, Coast Guard Centres and other governmental authorities to quickly estimate the drift of an oil spill at sea.

oceanography > physics mathematical modelling environmental emergency response service web site partially public View site »

The post The FLOAT User Interface has been migrated was last updated on 06 February 2015
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The renewed RV Belgica web site is online

We're pleased to announce that the RV Belgica web site has now been migrated to odnature.naturalsciences.be.

This migration to our scientific web sites and applications platform happens just in time for the start of the 2015 research campaigns. Not only has the web site received a face-lift, but the underlying database and administration tools have also been reworked from the ground up, making it an altogether more modern tool.

Researchers and interested parties have access to the campaigns and their associated documents and maps from 2014 onwards, in table and timeline formats. Description of the research programmes is also available.

Upcoming changes, additions and improvements

Communication means between the ship and our servers in Ostend and Brussels are being upgraded. This means more frequent updates to the data we're receiving from the RV Belgica when it's at sea. Until recently data gathered by our automated on-board measurement system (ODAS/AUMS) was received once per day. Now, we're able to receive near-real time data from the ship. At this occasion, we have decided to invest time in a complete overhaul of the way we manage, store and use this data. Robust transfer procedures are being set in place. A new database has been set up and smart importation, modification, querying and export scripts are being written.

In parallel, we are going to modify our ODAS visualisation web application. Plans have been drawn up and development has started. We'll place the new tool online as soon as it's ready, so stay tuned!

The RV Belgica web site is available in English, français and Nederlands

The RV Belgica: our floating laboratory

The RV Belgica helps researchers from universities and scientific institutes in their quest for a better understanding of the structure and working of the ecosystem of our seas.

oceanography data service web site public View site »

The post The renewed RV Belgica web site is online was last updated on 25 January 2015
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REMSEM: OD Nature's Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Modelling team

REMSEM has had a web site on mumm.ac.be for more than 15 years; both the SWAP and REMSEM teams were keen to migrate the current version to odnature.naturalsciences.be. REMSEM web assets are constituted by:

• a team web site, which presents the research carried out in the fields of remote sensing and ecosystem modelling to the scientific community, as well as publications, team members, software and data tools.
• a series of project web sites that have been developed in the scope of national or european research projects to which the REMSEM team takes part.

Some of these assets (MarCoast, BELCOLOUR, EMoSEM) had already been migrated to odnature.naturalsciences.be a few weeks ago but we are now happy to announce that another series of sites have been transfered — and in some cases created — and made public.

REMSEM: OD Nature's Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Modelling team

REMSEM carries out scientific research in the fields of remote sensing and ecosystem modelling with the aim of improving the long term scientific basis for management of the marine ecosystem. This is REMSEM's main web site.

oceanography > physics, ecosystems remote sensing mathematical modelling team web site public View site »

The HIGHROC Project

REMSEM coordinates the EU FP7 HIGHROC (HIGH spatial and temporal Resolution Ocean Colour products and services) project, carried out in cooperation with UMPC, NIVA, BC, VITO, CEFAS.

oceanography > physics remote sensing project web site public View site »

The GEOCOLOUR project

GEOCOLOUR had the general objective of improving the quality and quantity of marine optical products from the existing SEVIRI geostationary sensor and to prepare the design of the next generation of geostationary ocean colour sensors.

oceanography > physics remote sensing project web site public View site »

The JELLYMOD project

We are developing biological models to reproduce the complex biological cycle of jellyfish and also to understand the origin and the cause of jellyfish swarms that can be problematic in coastal waters. This project started recently.

oceanography > biology mathematical modelling project web site public View site »

The post REMSEM: OD Nature's Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Modelling team was last updated on 20 October 2014
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