Moray Firth Benthic Biotope Map of Guillam Area from Acoustic Survey

The Moray Firth cSAC within the 30-meter contour was surveyed by Envision Mapping Ltd for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The map was created using a RoxAnn acoustic ground discrimination system and a GeoSwath interferometric swath bathymetric system, combined with grab and video sampling. Biotopes were classified using the Marine Habitat Classification (Connor et al. 2004) through multivariate and video analysis.

Use Cases

• Classifying seabed biotopes based on acoustic remote sensing and video sampling data mentioned in the description
• Mapping sediment features and biological communities within a Special Area of Conservation
• Training habitat prediction models based on combined acoustic and physical sampling techniques
• Analyzing the relationship between acoustic signatures and characterized species for classification matching

Strengths

• Survey achieved 100% coverage with the swath system or a minimum track spacing of 80m over priority areas
• Data integrates multiple methods: acoustic remote sensing, grab sampling, and video analysis
• Biotope classification follows the standardized Marine Habitat Classification system (Connor et al. 2004)

Limitations

• Survey coverage is described as incomplete over areas outside the priority zones
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Collection Method

Acoustic remote sensing (RoxAnn and GeoSwath systems) combined with grab and video sampling, analyzed with multivariate techniques.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:46:00.058880; freshness should be verified

Geography

Moray Firth cSAC (Special Area of Conservation) within the 30-meter contour, specifically the Guillam area.