2011, Envision Mapping, Zone 3 - Dogger Bank, Creyke Beck Project Habitat Mapping

Envision have undertaken a biological interpretation of the geophysical data from Tranche A and Creyke Beck Export Cable Route. The strategy for this interpretation was to integrate sample records and the geophysical remotely sensed images to produce distribution maps. This follows the strategy that has been established within the EU through the MESH program. The primary purpose of analysis was to derive a limited range of habitat classes suitable for ground truthing the acoustic data, which were adopted as the mapping units. The requirements for successful ground truthing are not exactly the same as describing diversity. There has been more emphasis on commonality and potential for overlap between the mapping units. The analyses identified a small number of robust classes from the infauna defined by their predominant species and those that contributed most to the classes distinctiveness. Information on epifauna and gravel/cobble were incorporated to derive a single ground truth dataset.