Fladen Seafloor Acoustic Imagery from Fishing Impact Recovery Experiment

Multibeam echosounder backscatter imagery from a controlled experiment assessing seafloor recovery from fishing impacts. Data were collected within six experimental boxes over three time points before, immediately after, and eight months after impact during two research surveys in 2015. The imagery likely documents changes in seafloor texture and composition.

Use Cases

• Quantifying seafloor habitat disturbance based on acoustic backscatter imagery.
• Modeling benthic recovery rates over time based on the three survey time points.
• Comparing treated and control sites to isolate fishing impact effects.
• Mapping changes in seabed texture and roughness from the imagery.

Strengths

• Data originates from a controlled experimental design with three treatment and three control boxes.
• Temporal coverage includes three distinct time points: before, immediately after, and eight months after impact.
• Imagery was collected during dedicated research surveys on the RV Cefas Endeavour.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Collected via multibeam echosounder during research surveys on the RV Cefas Endeavour.

Time Range

April 2015 and November 2015

Freshness

Data collected in April and November 2015; last update unknown.

Geography

Fladen Grounds