National Seagrass Restoration Potential Areas

United Kingdom data identifies potential areas for seagrass restoration based on physical environmental criteria. The Environment Agency created this dataset, combining wave energy, current energy, elevation, salinity, and turbidity models. A version 3 update was published in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling habitat suitability for Zostera marina and Z. noltei using wave energy (<11.41 Nm-2) and current energy (<130 Nm-2) criteria.
• Identifying preferred restoration sites by analyzing the 'preferred' attribute for minimal conflict with existing pressures and activities.
• Screening potential areas by elevation, using thresholds between -10m to +5m for low-turbidity waters and -5m to +5m for higher turbidity.
• Filtering candidate locations by salinity data to exclude areas with salinity levels below 10.

Strengths

• Includes a subset of 'preferred' sites identified through consultation with local experts.
• Derived from national-scale models including EMODnet wave/current data and Defra/EMODnet elevation models.

Limitations

• Data provides a high-level indication and is not precise at the local scale.
• Does not incorporate location data for significant activities like dredging or submarine cables in the overall layer.
• Not derived from specific historic seagrass records and does not represent historic extent.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency (UK).

Collection Method

Areas derived from EMODnet 2016 wave/current models, seabed DEMs, and Environment Agency turbidity and salinity data.

Time Range

Model data includes mean annual 90th percentile values over six years (timeframe unspecified).

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

National coverage for the United Kingdom.