aba64100-c11f-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd English dataset Mary Mowat British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2011-08-30 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP 2003 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA4 Technical report - Benthic ecology (Faroe Shetland Channel) 2003-01-01 publication BGS_SEA_42 British Geological Survey This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) . The development of the deep-water oil industry to the west of Shetland led to extensive regional surveys of the seafloor environment, so that the deep-water benthos of the SEA4 area are now at least as well known as in any other deep-water area worldwide. Extensive surveys of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, funded by the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network and by the Department of Trade and Industry, took place between 1996 and 2002. This report provides an overview of these surveys. The ecology of the benthos in the SEA4 area is strongly influenced by the hydrography of the region, in particular the complex temperature regime, and by the nature of the seabed sediments. Additional files (xls, doc, cdr) are also available. Paul Henni British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA UK offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk custodian Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) +44 0300 060 4000 +44 (0) 1823 284077 Admiralty Way London SW1A 2HD UK enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk originator notPlanned Delimited Documents NDGO0001 Fauna abundance per unit area of the bed Habitat characterisation Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Habitats and biotopes Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication crust sediment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2008-06-01 publication The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis. intellectualPropertyRights 5 English biota environment oceans SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer 2006-01-01 revision North Atlantic Ocean -7 2 58.7 64 2003-01-01 2003-01-01 http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. download dataset This report was compiled by Southampton Oceanography Centre as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme and provides an overview of surveys of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, funded by the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network and by the Department of Trade and Industry which took place between 1996 and 2002. In 1996 the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network (AFEN) commissioned a largescale regional survey of the West of Shetland seabed environment (AFEN, 2000). The practical conduct of the survey drew on modern technology and techniques for seabed survey (e.g. Sidescan sonar), sampling (e.g. Megacorer) and visualisation (e.g. WASP, seabed photography). These seabed survey tools were operated in an integrated fashion, the sidescan sonar mapping guiding the seabed sampling and visualisation which in turn fed back ground-truthing data for the improved interpretation of the sidescan sonar data. In 1998 AFEN commissioned a further survey, including areas north and west of Shetland and areas in the Rockall Trough. The general concept and approach of the AFEN surveys was then taken forward by the DTI with a survey of the Wyville Thomson Ridge and central axis of the Faroe-Shetland Channel in 1999. The DTI surveys continued with work during 2000 and the completion of SEA4 field work with the 2002 survey to the north of Shetland.