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Marine Geomorphology and Habitat Mapping

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Oceans and Coastal Zones".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 5248

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), Bologna, Italy
Interests: implementation and management of geodatabase containing geophysical and marine geological data; GIS; habitat mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), Bologna, Italy
Interests: geomorphometry; submarine geomorphology; seafloor backscatter; habitat mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine geomorphology and habitat mapping have recently aroused the scientific community’s interest, especially thanks to technological improvements that allowed the acquisition of high-resolution seabed data (i.e., through acoustic systems and bathymetric LiDAR) supporting geomorphological and ecosystem research through the employment of qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Marine geomorphology and habitat mapping are strongly related; especially, seabed geomorphology has been demonstrated to have a remarkable control on ecological processes and associated biota and can act as a proxy of benthic habitats and ecosystems. The research in these areas contributes to the monitoring of geomorphological processes and changes of the seafloor, as well as changes to the distribution of biological communities and species diversity. Marine geomorphology and habitat mapping have also become of high interest among decision-makers because of their high support in maritime spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management, and the management of marine resources.

The aim of this Special Issue of Water is to collect works investigating seabed geomorphology, through both qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as those on mapping, modelling, and monitoring benthic habitat distributions, extensions, and spatial changes. We invite any contributions addressing all aspects of marine geomorphology and its applications, such as geomorphological mapping, landscape changes due to sea level oscillations, geoarchaeology, and geohazards modelling. Additionally, research related to any aspects of habitat mapping and its applications is welcome, including habitats from coast to deep sea, new techniques of habitat mapping and modelling, the role of oceanographic variables and hydrodynamics in habitat mapping, climate change impacts on benthic habitats, and maritime spatial planning within an ecosystem-based approach. Both research manuscripts and technical reviews are welcome.

Dr. Federica Foglini
Dr. Mariacristina Prampolini
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Geomorphological mapping
  • Habitat mapping
  • Submarine remote sensing
  • Multibeam
  • Side-scan sonar
  • Bathymetric LiDAR
  • GIS
  • Spatial analysis
  • Marine geomorphometry
  • Underwater acoustics
  • Classification methods

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 10010 KiB  
Article
Ensemble Mapping and Change Analysis of the Seafloor Sediment Distribution in the Sylt Outer Reef, German North Sea from 2016 to 2018
by Daphnie S. Galvez, Svenja Papenmeier, Lasse Sander, H. Christian Hass, Vera Fofonova, Alexander Bartholomä and Karen Helen Wiltshire
Water 2021, 13(16), 2254; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162254 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3438
Abstract
Recent studies on seafloor mapping have presented different modelling methods for the automatic classification of seafloor sediments. However, most of these studies have applied these models to seafloor data with appropriate numbers of ground-truth samples and without consideration of the imbalances in the [...] Read more.
Recent studies on seafloor mapping have presented different modelling methods for the automatic classification of seafloor sediments. However, most of these studies have applied these models to seafloor data with appropriate numbers of ground-truth samples and without consideration of the imbalances in the ground-truth datasets. In this study, we aim to address these issues by conducting class-specific predictions using ensemble modelling to map seafloor sediment distributions with minimal ground-truth data combined with hydroacoustic datasets. The resulting class-specific maps were then assembled into a sediment classification map, in which the most probable class was assigned to the appropriate location. Our approach was able to predict sediment classes without bias to the class with more ground-truth data and produced reliable seafloor sediment distributions maps that can be used for seafloor monitoring. The methods presented can also be used for other underwater exploration studies with minimal ground-truth data. Sediment shifts of a heterogenous seafloor in the Sylt Outer Reef, German North Sea were also assessed to understand the sediment dynamics in the marine conservation area during two different short timescales: 2016–2018 (17 months) and 2018–2019 (4 months). The analyses of the sediment shifts showed that the western area of the Sylt Outer Reef experienced sediment fluctuations but the morphology of the bedform features was relatively stable. The results provided information on the seafloor dynamics, which can assist in the management of the marine conservation area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Geomorphology and Habitat Mapping)
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