Sonar-Based Sediment Mapping in German Marine and Coastal Waters - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sonar-Based Sediment Mapping in German Marine and Coastal Waters

• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

Exclusive Economic Zone (BSH)

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2012 Agreement among the Federal Agency for Nature Protection (BfN) and Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) 2012 - 2014 Phase 1 2014 – 2017 Phase 2 2017 - ? Phase 3 (planned) BSH supported by Alfred-Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Reseach (AWI), Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemünde (IOW) Christian-Ablrechts-University of Kiel (CAU) and Senckenberg am Meer (SaM) close cooperation with State agencies of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

Territorial Waters (LLUR)

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2004 Start of hydroacoustic mapping with accoustic ground discrimination system Echoplus on MS Haithabu Habitat mapping with sidescan sonar in Schleswig-Holstein 2009 - North Sea / North Frisia 2009 - Baltic Sea / Fehmarn, Kiel Bight, … LLUR in close cooperation with Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (CAU and FTZ) and R&D Project WIMO (together with Senckenberg am Meer (SaM) and Alfred-Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Reseach (AWI))

Exclusive Economic Zone (BSH)

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Milestone Technical Guideline for Sediment Mapping Using Sonars Technical Guideline

• Based on Side Scan Sonar (Cost-Value Analysis)
• Multibeam Echosounders: Implementation in Future Updates of the

Guideline

• Requirements for Collecting and Processing Backscatter Data as well as

Interpreting Backscatter Mosackings

• Catalogue of Backscatter Images for Different Sediment Types to Support

Interpretation

• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

Clastic Sediment Types

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• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

Other Sediment Types

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Organic Sediment Types

• Gyttia
• Shell Debris

Genetic Sediment Types

• Lag Sediment (incl. Boulders)
• Till
• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

Side Scan Sonar: Data Collection (EEZ)

• Dr. Manfred Zeiler (BSH) & Dr. Hans-Christian Reimers (LLUR S-H)

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Lines: Tracks of Different Side Scan Sonar Surveys Green: Natura 2000 sites in the German EEZ

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Side Scan Sonar: Data Collection (Territorial Waters)

That's clear!

• Hydroacoustic and remote sensing techniques are very practical for the habitat

and seabed monitoring in context of MSFD, HD and WFD

• They provide high resolution spatial information
• Hydroacoustic and remote sensing techniques, only in combination with

expert supervised ground truthing lead to reliable results

What do we need?

• Better knowledge about the ecosystem function of different habitats
• Improvement of hydroacoustic and remote sensing techniques for the detection
• f biogenic structures like mussel beds, sea grass or macro algae
• There is still a special need for the intercalibration of monitoring practices an

assessment methods (national and regional)

Conclusion and Outlook

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Adding Biology….

(Alexander Darr, Kerstin Schiele, Kolja Beisiegel)

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… 2 level of accuracy:

• 1. Modelled distribution
• f HUB-level 6 biotopes
• applicable for predominant

Soft-substrate biotopes

• update in 2018

Schiele et al. (2015)

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• 2. High resolution maps of heterogeneous areas
• Especially for reef areas
• Combining backscatter-data with punctual

biological data (grab samples, Scuba diving, fotoframes, video transects…)

• Method(s) under development
• 1st results expected beginning
• f next year