Broadscale remote survey and mapping of sublittoral habitats and their associated biota in the Firth of Lorn: biotopes

Methodologies for broad scale mapping of sublittoral habitats and biota based on acoustic remote sensing was developed as the Broadscale Mapping Project (BMP), a three year project funded by a consortium consisting of the Crown Estate, the Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and Newcastle University through the SeaMap Research Group. The project was also supported by the European Commission?s Life programme. The Firth of Lorn study area was selected by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) because it encompassed a wide range of physical environmental conditions and had considerable existing conservation value. Part of the BMP study area was recently put forward as a possible Special Area of Conservation in recognition of the significant marine biological interest of both intertidal and subtidal rocky reefs. A nested survey strategy was developed for the Firth of Lorn which involved careful pre-planning and iterative field survey. By adopting this nested and iterative approach, the overall summary maps comprise a jigsaw of small maps where the underlying data vary in their level of detail. The main features and biota were mapped using acoustic remote sensing techniques combined with biological sampling. Linking the biological data with the acoustic data was completed using classification techniques developed for processing satellite images.

Alternate title: GB100014

Alternate title: EnvFofLornMNCR_O

Date (Publication): 1998-12-01

Edition date: 1998-12-01

Purpose: Nature conservation

Credit: Davies, J., 1999. Broad scale remote survey and mapping of sublittoral habitats and their associated biota in the Firth of Lorn. Report for SNH

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Scottish Natural Heritage	James Dargie	James.Dargie@snh.gov James.Dargie@snh.gov.uk	Point of contact

title

Habitats

title

40E3; 41E3; 41E4

Place

Minches & West Scotland

Use limitation: None - Available under the Open Government License

Spatial representation type: Vector

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Oceans

Begin date: 1997-04-01

End date: 1998-09-30

Reference system identifier: OSGB36

Distributor

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Scottish Natural Heritage\| Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Group, Inverness Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Group	Dylan Todd	dylan.todd@snh.gov dylan.todd@snh.gov.uk	Point of contact

Distributor format

Name	Version
Unknown	Unknown

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name

OGC:WMS	https://ows.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/geoserver/emodnet_view_maplibrary/wms?	gb100014
OGC:WFS	https://ows.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/geoserver/emodnet_open_maplibrary/wfs?	gb100014
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link	https://files.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/data/EMODnetSBHsurvey_GB100014.zip	EMODnet Seabed Habitats download

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conceptual consistency

Name of measure: MESH Confidence Assessment

Measure description: https://www.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/resources/mesh-archive/

Quantitative attribute accuracy

Name of measure: RemoteTechnique

Evaluation method description: An assessment of whether the remote techniques used to produce this map were appropriate to the environment they were used to survey:

3 = technique(s) highly appropriate

2 = technique(s) moderately appropriate

1 = technique(s) inappropriate

Completeness commission

Name of measure: RemoteCoverage

Evaluation method description: An assessment of the coverage of the remote sensing data including consideration of heterogeneity of the seabed: (See Coverage X Heterogeneity matrix below)

Coverage scores - use these to determine coverage then combine with heterogeneity assessment to derive finale scores

3 = good coverage; 100% (or greater) coverage or AGDS track spacing <50m

2 = moderate coverage; swath approx 50% coverage or AGDS track spacing >100m

1 = poor coverage; large gaps between swaths or AGDS track spacing > 100m

Final scores

3 = good coverage OR moderate coverage + low heterogeneity

2 = moderate coverage + moderate heterogeneity OR poor coverage + low heterogeneity

1 = moderate coverage + high heterogeneity OR poor coverage + moderate or high heterogeneity

Relative internal positional accuracy

Name of measure: RemotePositioning

Evaluation method description: An indication of the positioning method used for the remote data:

3 = differential GPS

2 = GPS (not differential) or other non-satellite 'electronic' navigation system

1 = chart based navigation, or dead-reckoning

Topological consistency

Name of measure: RemoteStdsApplied

Evaluation method description: An assessment of whether standards have been applied to the collection of the remote data. This field gives an indication of whether some data quality control has been carried out:

3 = remote data collected to approved standards

2 = remote data collected to ?internal? standards

1 = no standards applied to the collection of the remote data

Temporal validity

Name of measure: RemoteVintage

Evaluation method description: An indication of the age of the remote data:

3 = < 5yrs old.

2 = 5 to 10 yrs old.

1 = > 10 years old

Non quantitative attribute accuracy

Name of measure: BGTTechnique

Evaluation method description: An assessment of whether the ground-truthing techniques used to produce this map were appropriate to the environment they were used to survey. Use scores for soft or hard substrata as appropriate to the area surveyed.

Soft substrata predominate (i.e. those having infauna and epifauna)

3 = infauna AND epifauna sampled AND observed (video/stills, direct human observation)

2= infauna AND epifauna sampled, but NOT observed (video/stills, direct human observation)

1 = infauna OR epifauna sampled, but not both. No observation.

Hard substrata predominate (i.e. those with no infauna)

3 = sampling included direct human observation (shore survey or diver survey)

2 = sampling included video or stills but NO direct human observation

1 = benthic sampling only (e.g. grabs, trawls)

Non quantitative attribute accuracy

Name of measure: PGTTechnique

Evaluation method description: An assessment of whether the combination of geophysical sampling techniques were appropriate to the environment they were used to survey. Use scores for soft or hard substrata as appropriate to the area surveyed.

Soft substrata predominate (i.e. gravel, sand, mud)

3 = full geophysical analysis (i.e. granulometry and/or geophysical testing (penetrometry, shear strenght etc))

2 = sediments described following visual inspection of grab or core samples (e.g. slightly shelly, muddy sand)

1 = sediments described on the basis of remote observation (by camera).

Hard substrata predominate (i.e. rock outcrops, boulders, cobbles)

3 = sampling included in-situ, direct human observation (shore survey or diver survey)

2 = sampling included video or photographic observation, but NO in-situ, direct human observation

1 = samples obtained only by rock dredge (or similar)

Relative internal positional accuracy

Name of measure: GTPositioning

Evaluation method description: An indication of the positioning method used for the ground-truth data:

3 = differential GPS

2 = GPS (not differential) or other non-satellite 'electronic' navigation system

1 = chart based navigation, or dead-reckoning

Completeness commission

Name of measure: GTDensity

Evaluation method description: An assessment of what proportion of the polygons or classes (groups of polygons with the same ?habitat? attribute) actually contain ground-truth data:

3 = Every class in the map classification was sampled at least 3 times

2 = Every class in the map classification was sampled

1 = Not all classes in the map classification were sampled (some classes have no ground-truth data)

Conceptual consistency

Name of measure: GTStdsApplied

Evaluation method description: An assessment of whether standards have been applied to the collection of the ground-truth data. This field gives an indication of whether some data quality control has been carried out:

3 = ground-truth samples collected to approved standards

2 = ground-truth samples collected to 'internal' standards

1 = no standards applied to the collection of ground-truth samples

Temporal validity

Name of measure: GTVintage

Evaluation method description: An indication of the age of the ground-truth data:

3 = < 5 yrs old

2 = 5 to 10 yrs old

1 = > 10 years old

Topological consistency

Name of measure: GTInterpretation

Evaluation method description: An indication of the confidence in the biological interpretation of the ground-truthing data:

3 = Evidence of expert interpretation; full descriptions and taxon list provided for each habitat class

2 = Evidence of expert interpretation, but no detailed description or taxon list supplied for each habitat class

1 = No evidence of expert interpretation; limited descriptions available

Completeness commission

Name of measure: RemoteInterpretation

Evaluation method description: An indication of the confidence in the interpretation of the remotely sensed data:

3 = Appropriate technique used and documentation provided

2 = Appropriate technique used but no documentation provided

1 = Inappropriate technique used

Note that interpretation techniques can range from ?by eye? digitising of side scan by experts to statistical classification techniques.

Completeness commission

Name of measure: DetailLevel

Evaluation method description: The level of detail to which the 'habitat' classes in the map have been classified:

3 = Classes defined on the basis of detailed biological analysis

2 = Classes defined on the basis of major characterising species or lifeforms

1 = Classes defined on the basis of physical information, or broad biological zones

Thematic classification correctness

Name of measure: MapAccuracy

Evaluation method description: A test of the accuracy of the map:

3 = high accuracy, proven by external accuracy assessment

2 = high accuracy, proven by internal accuracy assessment

1 = low accuracy, proved by either external or internal assessment OR no accuracy assessment made

Domain consistency

Name of measure: Remote

Domain consistency

Name of measure: GT

Domain consistency

Name of measure: Interpretation

Statement: Survey technique(s): Towed video ; Side scan sonar ; AGDS ; Grabs

Description: Classification scheme: MNCR

Description: Classification scheme details: 97.06 Version. 22 categories (to level 4 in the hierarchy of the classification system) with a 23rd category where the Biotope code remains unidentified.

Description: Survey technique details: Track spacing varied from 100m to 5km depending on level of deail required. Ground truthing by towed video and sediment samples. Used side scan sonar to assist with validation and interpretation of AGDS maps.

Processor

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
SeaMap Research Group (Newcastle University)	SeaMap Research Group (Newcastle University)		Principal investigator

Description: Mapping method: Supervised classification

Metadata

File identifier: baa12e7b-243e-4669-a902-f278ef6398c4 XML

Character set: UTF8

Parent identifier: GB100015

Date stamp: 2022-02-15T16:25:56

Metadata standard name: ISO 19115:2003/19139

Metadata standard version: 1.0

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Scottish Natural Heritage	Unknown	enquiries@snh.gov enquiries@snh.gov.uk	Point of contact

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Conceptual consistency

Quantitative attribute accuracy

Completeness commission

Relative internal positional accuracy

Topological consistency

Temporal validity

Non quantitative attribute accuracy

Non quantitative attribute accuracy

Relative internal positional accuracy

Completeness commission

Conceptual consistency

Temporal validity

Topological consistency

Completeness commission

Completeness commission

Thematic classification correctness

Domain consistency

Domain consistency

Domain consistency

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