Areas of shallow water, where sunlight and wave interaction rule and define the composition of the seabed and habitats, is a sensitive ecosystem and vulnerable to man-made interventions. Unfortunately, it has been one of the least-mapped areas worldwide, due to the limited potential of divers and drop-down videos to cover extended areas, especially when it comes to monitoring programmes.
EOMAP’s solution offers a way to access digital information on seafloor and coastal habitats, by using a time series of recent satellite images. With our intensive knowledge of processing bathymetry data for shallow waters we can use these images together with the spectral information from the satellite recordings to characterise the seafloor according to colour, texture and shape. By using our databases and the knowledge of our senior experts we transform these characteristics into thematic classes to quantify the nature of the seabed and how it changes over time. With these powerful tools we have provided digital data and baseline maps to governmental agencies and local environmental consulting and engineering firms. The benthic baseline map of Dubai, among others, is based on our methods.
A. Kumar (Evironmental Agency Abu Dhabi)
“The mapping of coastal and marine habitats and bathymetry data generated by EOMAP will assist in preserving Abu Dhabi’s fragile coastal ecosystem.”
Dr. R. Ressel (Director Geomatics Department of CONABIO/Mexico)
“The services and products delivered for the Mexican Maya coast are exceptional and fundamental in developing our seafloor habitat baseline.”
