The mapping of marine seabed landscapes and water column features of UK seas (UKSeaMap)

The UKSeaMap project follows on from the Irish Sea Pilot study (ISP), which tested a regional seas approach to marine conservation management (Vincent et al. 2004).  Part of the ISP investigated the concept of 'marine landscapes' (coastal, seabed and water column) and their ecological relevance (Golding et al. 2004).  For the ISP, seabed and coastal marine landscapes were derived by integrating a number of geophysical attributes including bathymetry, seabed sediments, bedforms, maximum near-bed stress and other data, whilst the water column marine landscapes were based on two 'model derived', raster datasets for salinity and stratification (both supplied by Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory). The ecological relevance of the derived marine landscape units was tested by assessing the correlation with different biological communities, determining the degree to which a particular landscape could be used as a surrogate for biological communities. In general the Irish Sea marine landscapes were found to be ecologically valid.

 

Based on this successful 'proof of concept' in the Irish Sea, this approach has now been adapted and extended to produce maps of seabed landscapes (Figure 1) and seasonal water column features (Figure 2) for the rest of UK waters.