biological zones of the EU's Atlantic Area

This layer is a model of the biological zones of the EU's 'Atlantic Area 2007-2013'. It was performed within the framework of MeshAtlantic project (INTERREG ÔÇÿAtlantic Area 2007-2013ÔÇÖ program).

This layer was modelled with the use of bespoke base layers that were the bathymetry, wave wavelength and the kdpar

The biological zones boundaries were defined in the following way.

- Infralittoral lower limit: limit at which the percentage of light reaching the seabed is 1%. The percentage of light layer was calculated by intersecting the kdpar and the bathymetry layers. For more details about this calculation see e.g. Vasquez et al. (in press).

- Circalittoral lower limit: limit at which the ratio wave wave length over the depth equals 2.53

- Deep circalittoral lower limit: break of slope due to the entrance into the continental slope. This limit was digitalized with the use of the bathymetry layer

- Upper slope lower limit: depth 750m

- Upper bathyal lower limit: depth 1100m

- Mid bathyal lower limit: depth 1800m

- Lower bathyal lower limit: break of slope due to the entrance into the abyssal plain. This limit was digitalized with the use of the bathymetry layer

Deep biological zones (from upper slope to abyssal) were chosen according to the classification proposed by Howell (2010).

For more detail see Vasquez et al. (in press)

Howell, K.L., 2010. A benthic classification system to aid in the implementation of marine protected area networks in the deep/high seas of the NE Atlantic. Biological Conservation 143, 1041ÔÇô1056.

Vasquez, M., Mata Chac├│n, D., Tempera, F., OÔÇÖKeeffe, E., Galparsoro, I., Sanz Alonso, J. L., Gon├ºalves, J.M.S., Bentes, L., Amorim, P., Henriques, V., McGrath, F., Monteiro, P., Mendes, B., Freitas, R., Martins, R., Populus, J., In press. Broad-scale mapping of seafloor habitats in the north-east Atlantic using existing environmental data.

Date (Publication): 2014-01-01T00:00:00

Edition: v1

Presentation form: Digital map

Purpose: Marine spatial planning

Marine protected areas design

Status: Completed

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Ifremer	Micka├½l VASQUEZ	mickael.vasquez@ifremer.fr	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency: As needed

Theme

biological zones
EUNIS
infralittoral
circalittoral
upper slope
upper bathyal
mid bathyal
lower bathyal
Abyssal
Atlantic
MeshAtlantic

Theme

Marine habitat mapping

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Habitats and biotopes
Oceanographic geographical features
Bio-geographical regions
Hydrography

Use limitation: Data is freely available for research or commercial use providing that the originators are acknowledged in any publications produced

Other constraints: has to be cited this way in other maps: "Source EMODnet"

Spatial representation type: Vector

Denominator: 1000000

Language: eng

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Environment

Vertical extent

Minimum value: 0

Maximum value: 6000

Reference system identifier: WGS 1984

Distribution format

Name	Version
Shapefile	unknown

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link	http://www.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/default.aspx?page=1934
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download	http://gis.ices.dk/geonetwork/srv/en/resources.get?id=600&fname=&access=private
OGC:WMS-1.1.1-http-get-map