Cost-Effective Benthic Mapping Tools—Gene Revelas to Present at GeoHab 2018

A 2017 benthic map of Sequim Bay, WA, generated from MBES and SPI survey data.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Integral Consulting Inc. (Integral) is developing a standardized and cost-effective tool set for mapping soft-bottom benthic habitat at marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) sites.  Senior Consultant Gene Revelas will present on this effort at the GeoHab 2018 annual conference held in Santa Barbara, California, on May 7–11.

On Wednesday, May 9, Mr. Revelas will deliver a platform presentation titled “Standardized and Cost-effective Benthic Habitat Mapping Tools for Marine and Hydrokinetic Site Environmental Assessments,” coauthored by Brandon Sackmann, Ph.D., Craig Jones, Ph.D., and Ian Stupakoff.  Baseline benthic habitat characterization and subsequent monitoring at MHK sites can involve a variety of tools and techniques, such as multibeam echosounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter, sidescan sonar, sediment sampling, and benthic community surveys, applied in different combinations.  Integral’s approach uses rapidly obtained sediment profile imaging and plan view (SPI/PV) imagery to ground truth (i.e., test the accuracy of) MBES bathymetry and backscatter benthic habitat maps.  This approach streamlines and standardizes the generation of seabed maps.

GeoHab (Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping) is an international association of marine scientists who study and map biophysical indicators of benthic communities, species diversity, and distribution.  The annual conference provides a forum to exchange knowledge on sustainable ocean management and mapping.

For more information about SPI/PV technology and Integral’s related capabilities, contact Gene Revelas at grevelas@integral-corp.com.

The information, data, or work presented herein was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under the Water Power Program Award Number DE-EE0007826.