Ocean fronts as an indicator of marine animals: expediting site selection and survey for offshore renewables

Date/Time:

13 Mar 2012
15:00-15:20

Location:

South Galleries

Seminar Details
Ocean fronts as an indicator of marine animals: expediting site selection and survey for offshore renewables We have studied the distribution of oceanic fronts observed by satellite as a proxy for enhanced pelagic biodiversity. These maps can then be applied to assist in the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and site selection for marine renewable energy installations (MREIs). It is already known that frequent front zones are associated with higher abundance and diversity of phytoplankton, zooplankton, certain pelagic fish and megafauna such as cetaceans and basking sharks. A 10-year time-series (30,000 satellite images) was processed and aggregated to generate a front climatology of the UK continental shelf, indicating the regions where strong fronts are most frequently observed during each season. A UK government (Defra) project has used these results to advise the selection of potential MPAs. The excellent spatial and temporal coverage of satellite data suggests important applications for the marine renewable industry. The site selection procedure for potential MREIs could exploit frontal indicators as a cost-effective initial risk assessment of biodiversity impact. This may also contribute to the environmental impact assessment, by estimating the likely abundance and distribution of key species known to inhabit the area. This research is based on the composite front map approach, which is to combine the location, strength and persistence of all fronts observed over several days into a single map, improving interpretation of dynamic mesoscale structures (Miller, 2009). These techniques are robust and applicable to any geographic area.