UKSeaMap The mapping of seabed and water column features of UK seas David Connor MESH UK stakeholders workshop London, 19 October 2006

Outline Origins of UKSeaMap Data and methods used Outcomes Applications Focus on seabed mapping www.searchMESH.net

Origins of the project Roff and Taylor (2000) Review of Marine Nature Conservation Irish Sea Pilot UKSeaMap began November 2004 Completed 2006 www.searchMESH.net

Funding partners & project team JNCC project team: David Connor Neil Golding Kirsteen McKenzie Paul Robinson Dylan Todd Emma Verling A contribution to: www.searchMESH.net

UKSeaMap - aims To provide broadscale maps of all UK seas via modelling To use existing physical and hydrographic data To produce maps of ecological relevance for regional and national management and planning www.searchMESH.net

Doesn’t MESH have it all mapped? www.searchMESH.net

General approach Collate data sets Process & categorise data Classification analysis Generate draft maps Validate & characterise maps Assess confidence General approach Produce final maps www.searchMESH.net

Seabed features Topographic features Modelled seabed types Coastal The elements of the marine landscape map Seabed features Topographic features Modelled seabed types Coastal physiographic features www.searchMESH.net

Data types Used: Also considered: Slope Substratum Light penetration Depth Bottom temperature Wave-base Near-bed stress Also considered: Tidal range Oxygen Nutrients pH Salinity Wave exposure www.searchMESH.net

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Extract from topographic feature rules table Slope Substrata Bathymetric Zone Subtidal sediment bank >2% Sediment (typically coarse) Shelf feature -raised Shelf mound and pinnacle Variable (rock and/or sediment) Shelf feature - raised Continental shelf Variable Shelf break to continental rise Canyon >8% Variable (includes rock) Continental slope feature Deep ocean rise Rock with sediment veneer Deep water feature - raised www.searchMESH.net

Iceberg plough-mark zone Subtidal sediment bank Deep ocean rise Shelf trough Canyon Subtidal sediment bank www.searchMESH.net

Identification of coastal features Type Character Salinity regime Open/ enclosed Bay Sheltered from along-shore winds Marine Open Sound Channel, open at both ends Barrier beach Long-shore drift, sheltered Embayment Sheltered from on-shore winds Enclosed Sealoch Glacially-derived Marine, some variable Ria Drowned river valley Estuary River mouth Variable Lagoon Isolated from open sea Reduced www.searchMESH.net

Coastal features Estuary - Severn Estuary Lagoon - The Fleet Embayment - Langstone Harbour Bay - Poole Bay www.searchMESH.net

Modelling seabed types Seabed substrata (British Geological Survey) Light attenuation (Proudman Oceanographic Lab.) Depth (Gebco & SeaZone) Wave base (Proudman Oceanographic Lab.) Bottom temperature (ICES) Tidal bed-stress (Proudman Oceanographic Lab.) www.searchMESH.net

Modelling seabed types Substratum Rock Sand Mud Depth Zone Coarse Sediment Mixed Sediment Warm Photic Deep water Cold Aphotic Shallow Shelf Bed Stress Weak Moderate Strong www.searchMESH.net

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Depth zonation Photic zone Shallow zone Shelf zone Deep water zone from coastline to photic depth (rocky substrata only) Shallow zone from coastline to wave base Shelf zone from wave base to shelf break (200m depth) Deep water zone >200m depth Warm water > 4ºC Cold water <4ºC www.searchMESH.net

www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

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ºC www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap www.searchMESH.net Source Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory

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0.02 decimal degrees 0.1 decimal degrees No. of cells Coarse – 5,908 Fine – 1,292,276 www.searchMESH.net

Supervised classification Classification tree example Sediment: coarse Depth: shallow Bed stress: strong Shallow coarse sediment plain – strong bed stress www.searchMESH.net

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Seabed features Topographic features Coastal physiographic features The elements of the marine landscape map Seabed features Topographic features Coastal physiographic features Modelled seabed types www.searchMESH.net

www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

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Seabed classification Enclosed coast 5 Open coast & continental shelf Semi-enclosed coastal features 3 Shallow coastal plain features 10 Shelf plain features 8 Coastal & shelf bed-form features 4 Continental slope & deep sea Topographic & bed-form features 6 Plain features Total 44 www.searchMESH.net

Most common Landscape type % of UKCS km2 Shelf sand plain 24.7 215,215 Uncategorised 13.6 118,808 Deep ocean rise 10.1 87,907 Shelf coarse sediment plain 8.8 76,492 Deep-sea warm-water mud plain 6.5 56,327 Shallow sand plain 5.5 48,218 Shelf mud plain 5.1 44,605 www.searchMESH.net

Least common Landscape type km2 Lagoons 24 Barrier beach 29 Deep water mounds (Darwin Mounds) 52 Sound 91 Ria 104 Shelf mixed sediment plain – strong tide stress 285 Deep-sea cold-water coarse sediment plain 386 Embayment 596 Shallow mixed sediment plain - strong bed stress 952 Shelf mounds or pinnacles 1124 www.searchMESH.net

Biological validation Predicted relationship to EUNIS Habitat types Landscape types www.searchMESH.net

Sample data used 32,000 samples www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

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Biological validation by cell www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

Confidence Assessment Provide good metadata Can resolution of the datasets be represented on a map? Express the amount of ground-truth validation data available Degree of consistency in habitat type www.searchMESH.net

Biological validation by landscape type www.searchMESH.net www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap

Seasonal Water Column Salinity Surface to seabed temperature Shelf Surface to seabed temperature difference Estuarine Oceanic ROFI Well mixed Stratified Frontal Front Probability www.searchMESH.net No Front Front

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Applications Protection through better informed end users Strategic planning advice to industry Essential environmental data for marine spatial planning Marine protected areas – representative network Monitoring and surveillance programmes European Directive implementation – Water Framework Directive & Marine Strategy Directive Regional seas – confirm boundaries www.searchMESH.net

Limitations Coarse grid unsuitable for fine-scale planning Quality of underlying data Coarse DEMs Lack of coastal rock Poor sample data coverage in offshore & deep-water areas www.searchMESH.net

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The future? Fill gaps in data coverage Harmonise the data (maps) Short term – mobilise existing data and modelling Longer term - new survey Harmonise the data (maps) Interoperability Common classifications Extend mapping to other countries Develop applications for mapping Relationship to human activities Sensitivity mapping Spatial planning mechanisms, including MPAs Strategic planning www.searchMESH.net david.connor@jncc.gov.uk

Conclusions Successful use of available physical & hydrographic data to produce first ecological map for UK seas Recognise limitations in data coverage & resolution Number of applications at regional & national level Work towards improving data and models to refine map www.searchMESH.net david.connor@jncc.gov.uk www.jncc.gov.uk/UKSeaMap