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Benthic Habitat Mapping
Effective mapping of the seafloor and benthic habitats involves the use of remote sensing and physical sampling techniques. Remote sensing involves gathering information from a distance, either through aerial remote sensing or water-based remote sensing systems. These methods use optical (light) or acoustic (sound) instruments to create visual images of the seafloor without disturbing the bottom. In order to use remote sensing techniques for benthic habitat mapping, environmental conditions must be interpreted from photographic, satellite, and acoustic images. Although different sediment and vegetation types may be determined from sound and light reflectance patterns, ground-truthing with fine-scale sampling methods is necessary to test interpretations of the remotely sensed data. Regardless of which methods are used, all benthic data must be analyzed and interpreted for use in habitat mapping. The following sections describe some of the GIS basics and habitat scale considerations relevant to benthic mapping, discuss several aspects of spatial analysis and visualization of benthic data, and provide examples of spatial analyses using various data types. |
