First High-Resolution Seafloor Model and Habitat Map from the West Greenland Continental Shelf
Abstract
In Greenland, which is highly economically dependent on marine resources, knowledge of marine benthic habitats is largely incomplete and much needed, especially in relation to the benthic biodiversity, potentially vulnerable marine ecosystems and management of fisheries. In the light of this need, we initiated the 'MapHab' project centered in Nuuk and aiming at producing high-resolution 3D terrain model and benthic habitat map of the pilot area in Disko Bay, central West Greenland. Disko Bay is characterized by highly complex topography composed of a large dendrite system of paleo-channels of the ancestral Jakobshavn Isbrae. Disko Bay is surrounded by marine protected areas, as well as the UNESCO World Heritage site, Ilulissat Icefjord - outlet of the present-day Jakobshavn Isbrae. Our test location is considered a biodiversity hotspot, identified as the Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Due to its biological richness, this area is highly relevant for Greenland's fisheries driving the national economy.
The method used in this project combines geophysical data from acoustic survey (bathymetry and backscatter) with ground-truth data on sediments and biota from seabed photography, underwater video and trawling to produce benthic habitat map. A number of statistical and modelling techniques were implemented to infer association between ground-truth sample data and remote sensing data in order to compensate for the absence of full coverage ground-truth sampling in the investigated area. Our methodology follows the guidelines and recommendations from habitat mapping protocols (e.g. GepHab) and EU standards (e.g. EUNIS). The project has resulted in high-resolution seafloor models and classified maps providing much requested knowledge on complex geomorphology and substrate of the seabed, bathymetry and key benthic habitats of the pilot area. The 'MapHab' pilot project is the first stage towards a planned larger implementation of seabed habitat mapping techniques in areas of particular interest for stakeholders in Greenland, such as shrimp fishery. Our vision is to develop robust and effective seabed mapping tools that can be used to map strategically important areas of Greenland, starting with the key fishing area - Disko Bay.- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMOS11A..05K
- Keywords:
-
- 3045 Seafloor morphology;
- geology;
- and geophysics;
- MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS;
- 4894 Instruments;
- sensors;
- and techniques;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL;
- 4260 Ocean data assimilation and reanalysis;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL;
- 4262 Ocean observing systems;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL