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Essential Variables for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Descriptions

Listing and description of Essential Variables for the Southern Ocean. The focus is on Biodiversity and ecosystem-relevant variables. This listing is inspired by and follows the formatting used by EuropaBON (here)

For a general overview of Essential Variables, look at the EarthDATA backgrounder on Essential Variables.

"Essential variables (EV) are variables that are known to be important for detecting and monitoring a specific aspect of the Earth system. As a shared set of reliable and consistent measures, as well as standards for data collection and distribution, EVs enable data usability across numerous platforms and agencies."

Fields where such Essential Variables have been developed include Oceanography (EOV), climatology (ECV), and biodiversity (EBV). While they all have specific variables for their domain, various variables are shared between the different domains and many of these are interlinked.

Essential Biodiversity Variables

Essential Ocean Variables

Essential Climate Variables

ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables

Essential Ecosystem Service Variables