Marine ALSF research projects

• Final reports

Marine ALSF Regional Environmental Characterisation Surveys (RECs)

NB The REC data was collected in widely accessible industry standard formats with the intention that it should be available and appropriate for a broad spectrum of applications. However, inevitably not all processed data products will be suitable for every application. The raw data are available and where possible should be used so that they can be processed for the individual users requirements.

• Survey Data acquired during REC Surveys (and accompanying guidance / data appendices (e.g. README notes))
  • GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
    • Sub-bottom Profiler (boomer) - generally supplied in 2 formats
      • raw digital data, essentially unprocessed with navigation attached; as cod or sgy files to be viewed in CODA or similar
      • paper rolls (East Coast, Humber, South Coast & Thames - available from the MEPF at Cefas Lowestoft)
    • Side-Scan Sonar - generally supplied in 3 formats
      • raw digital data, essentially unprocessed with navigation attached; as cod or xtf files to be viewed in CODA or similar
      • sonar seafloor mosaic (geotiffs/gsf) - data processed to agreed resolution
        NB Mosaics are for illustrative purposes only.  For specific end user requirements, please refer to the original survey data.
        Please note that for the South Coast REC region geotiffs are not available for the whole survey area due to poor weather experienced during the acquisition phase.
        End users please note difference in East Coast REC mosaic which was produced with constant gain settings for the entire mosaic and without selective layering of survey lines. In addition, local mosaics were produced for archaeology and geology study areas. These local mosaics are not considered part of final delivery nor have they gone through MEPF internal QA process, but they are available to 3rd party users on request.
      • paper rolls (East Coast, Humber, South Coast & Thames - available from the MEPF at Cefas Lowestoft)
    • Magnetometer (x,y,z)
    • Bathymetry (provided in ASCII x,y,z)
    • Gridded bathymetric datasets (processed swathe bathymetry)
  • ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEYS
    • Imagery
      • Videos
      • Stills
    • Species lists (primer data in xls format)
    • PSA (this depends on the particular REC; for some RECs this data may not be supplied until interpretation stage)
    • Vibrocores (logs and images) (Humber & East Coast RECs only - Humber available from BGS; East Coast available from Wessex)
• Reports
  • Survey Operational Reports (these should be downloaded in conjunction with any of the REC datasets noted above to provide further background / context to the user)
  • Final REC reports (project conclusions, seabed characterisation - geology, biology, archaeology) and interpreted data (shape files / layers, associated data appendices)

Non-Marine ALSF source data

e.g. The Crown Estate Marine Aggregate Licences.

Web Links to other source material

The Marine GIS includes links to other sources of data that users may find helpful.  E.g. ADS (Archaeology Data Service).

Additional REC info

During this Round 3 of the Marine ALSF (2008-2011), 4 REC projects are being undertaken.
These are for the:

• East Coast (Download Boundaries shapefile)
• Humber (Download Boundaries shapefile)
• South Coast (Download Boundaries shapefile)
• Outer Thames Estuary (Download Boundaries shapefile)

Two previous REC-type projects were also undertaken:

• Eastern English Channel Marine Habitat Mapping (EECMHM) funded by the Marine ALSF (Round 2)
• Outer Bristol Channel (OBC)funded in part by the Marine ALSF (Round 1)

The MEPF is currently working to ensure the datasets for these projects are made available via the database by 31 March 2011.

As at May 2010, the following table provides an overview of the REC datasets / deliverables.

*The survey and interpretation elements of the REC projects have been listed as separate projects on the data catalogue.

**The REC WEBGIS’ will allow users to browse and visualise a number of geospatial datasets submitted as part REC Projects.  Access to the REC datasets is only available via the Marine GIS database.