Africa’s first long-term ocean observatory in the Bazaruto Archipelago for multi-ecosystem and biodiversity data

The Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) Ocean Observatory is a long-term, DOI-linked, managed open-access, multi-ecosystem and biodiversity observing platform in the Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique. This article documents the structure, scope, standardization, quality-control framework, and access pathways of its datasets, rather than testing a specific hypothesis. The BCSS research station facilitates this platform in Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region; established in 2017 in the Bazaruto Archipelago (Mozambique), the observatory integrates weather, oceanographic, biogeochemical, biodiversity, and pollution datasets under a Resort-to-Research (R2R) financial/operational model linking BCSS and Kisawa Sanctuary. The system encompasses 6 ecosystems and 14 fixed stations across coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, lagoons, seamount habitats and the open-ocean, covering ~6,850 km². Over 8 years, it has generated 22,000,000+ high-frequency spatiotemporal measurements across 30+ variables, including temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, carbon chemistry, nutrients, metals, chlorophyll a , and real-time biomass, alongside 200,000+ minutes of soundscape recordings, 100,000+ biodiversity records, and 10,000+ kg of marine debris observations. Field instrumentation combines CTD, HOBO, YSI, and ST600 instrumentation alongside smart-buoys acoustic biomass technology and remote-sensing tools (GHRSST, MODIS). Complementary laboratory analyses (GEOMAR, University of Pisa, University of La Coruña, CEZA laboratories, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) provide standardized seawater carbonate chemistry, elemental ratios (seawater, nutrients), trophic web stable isotopes (C, N, S), and microplastic polymer identification. All datasets are calibrated and quality-controlled (QA/QC), and are curated through the UbuntuNet Alliance-DataCite repositories, assigning persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) codes ensuring compliance with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Data are distributed in interoperable research formats, with DOI-linked access for standard datasets and managed open-access delivery for selected large-volume or specialized assets (.csv,.xlsx,.json,.wav,.tif,.mp4) with complete metadata for each dataset. The observatory repository includes 21 datasets (2015/2017-present) covering time-series of physical-chemical parameters, biogeochemistry, biodiversity, acoustics, and pollution indicators. These standardized, interoperable datasets provide baselines for climate attribution, ecosystem modeling, blue-economy reporting, environmental monitoring, ecological and biogeochemical analyses, biodiversity assessment, and monitoring-reporting-verification (MRV) frameworks in the Western Indian Ocean.