Flanders Marine Institute
The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is a scientific institution dedicated to marine research. Established in 1999, headquartered in Ostend, Flanders. It gathers and disseminates ocean knowledge, promotes marine sciences, supports policy-making, fosters innovative solutions, and manages marine data.
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is a marine research and data infrastructure organisation based in Ostend, Belgium. Founded in 1999, VLIZ supports marine science by conducting research, managing and publishing marine data, developing digital services, and providing research infrastructure. The institute works with universities, research institutes, governmental organisations and international marine networks, with a strong commitment to open science and the long-term accessibility of marine information.
Relevance to the tsunami community
VLIZ contributes to the international tsunami community particularly through marine data infrastructure, real-time sea-level observations, data engineering and interoperable services for numerical modelling and hazard research.
A central contribution is the IOC Sea Level Station Monitoring Facility (SLSMF), developed and hosted by VLIZ in cooperation with UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). The facility aggregates near-real-time observations from a worldwide network of sea-level stations and provides information on station status together with rapid access to the incoming data streams. It is used by tsunami warning centres, researchers and other operational users to observe sudden sea-level changes and assess whether monitoring stations are functioning correctly.
The monitoring facility connects stations contributing to the major IOC regional tsunami warning and mitigation systems, including the Pacific (PTWS), Indian Ocean (IOTWMS), North-East Atlantic and Mediterranean (NEAMTWS), and Caribbean (CARIBE-EWS) systems. This makes VLIZ part of the data infrastructure supporting tsunami monitoring at global scale.
Since 2024, the Sea Level Station Monitoring Facility has been endorsed as a project of the UN Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme. Its objectives include improving access to quality-controlled observations for National Tsunami Warning Centres and Tsunami Service Providers, expanding observational coverage, and strengthening monitoring in tsunami-risk regions.
Research software and data infrastructure
VLIZ develops, operates and maintains marine information systems and software-backed data services. Its IT and data teams work on data ingestion, quality control, metadata, interoperability, web services, databases, APIs and the long-term operation of scientific information systems. The institute also operates the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) and contributes to European and international marine data infrastructures.
For tsunami research, these capabilities are relevant across the full research-software workflow:
- acquisition and processing of real-time sea-level observations;
- automated data quality control;
- discovery and access to observational datasets;
- interoperable transfer of data to modelling and high-performance computing environments;
- integration of marine observations with European research infrastructures;
- preservation and publication of datasets and associated metadata;
- development and long-term operation of web-based scientific services.
VLIZ participates in Geo-INQUIRE, where work on real-time and bulk sea-level data includes integration with the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and support for the developing EPOS Tsunami Thematic Core Service. This includes improving access to observational data for scientific modelling and high-performance computing workflows.
VLIZ has also participated in DT-GEO (A Digital Twin for GEOphysical extremes), a European research project developing digital-twin approaches for geophysical hazards. Such infrastructure connects observational data, computational models and high-performance computing for the simulation and analysis of phenomena including earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis.
Community and capacity building
VLIZ works with UNESCO-IOC, sea-level network operators and tsunami warning centres to strengthen the exchange and use of real-time observations. Activities include technical collaboration, training and capacity building for organisations responsible for tsunami monitoring and emergency response. One example is training with South-East Pacific tsunami warning centres on sharing and using real-time sea-level data during tsunami emergencies.
Through these activities, VLIZ supports connections between observational networks, data specialists, research software developers, numerical modellers and operational tsunami services.
Areas of expertise
Relevant expertise includes:
- marine and oceanographic data management
- real-time sea-level monitoring
- scientific databases and web services
- data quality control
- FAIR and open marine data
- metadata and data interoperability
- research software and data engineering
- numerical-model data workflows
- high-performance computing data access
- European and international research infrastructures
- long-term operation of scientific data services