Mid-Irish Sea Seabed Habitat Survey Data from May 2008

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) commissioned a seabed habitat survey in May 2008. The survey aimed to identify and delineate Annex I habitats, using broad-scale and fine-scale acoustic techniques like sidescan sonar and multibeam bathymetry, along with ground-truthing via video, stills, and grab sampling. The data covers two Areas of Search (AoS) in the mid-Irish Sea and Solan Bank.

Use Cases

• Mapping the distribution of Annex I 'Submarine structures made by leaking gases' habitat based on acoustic survey data.
• Characterizing Annex I 'Reef' habitats using combined acoustic and ground-truthing video/still imagery.
• Training habitat classification models using co-registered acoustic backscatter and biological sample data.
• Analyzing seabed morphology and epibiota communities from dredge samples and video observations.

Strengths

• Survey employed multiple complementary techniques including sidescan sonar, multibeam bathymetry, video, stills, and grab sampling.
• Data collection was focused on specific, legally defined Annex I habitats under the EC Habitats Directive.
• Survey planning and interpretation utilized extensive pre-existing datasets for context.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the specific May 2008 survey period and Irish Sea location.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Collection Method

Survey commissioned by JNCC, utilizing sidescan sonar, multibeam swathe bathymetry, towed/drop down video/stills, Hamon grab, and rock dredge sampling.

Time Range

May 2008 (18-27 May)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:47:29.635275; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mid-Irish Sea, specifically the Submarine structures AoS and the Solan Bank AoS.