Marine ecosystem engineers: a challenge for mine countermeasure
Papili, S.; Dupont, Y.; Van Lancker, V. (2019). Marine ecosystem engineers: a challenge for mine countermeasure, in: Papadakis, J.S. (Ed.) 5th Underwater Acoustics Conference and Exhibition - UACE2019: Conference Proceedings. pp. 987-992
In: Papadakis, J.S. (Ed.) (2019). 5th Underwater Acoustics Conference and Exhibition - UACE2019: Conference Proceedings. CCBS: Greece. xiv, 1070 pp., more
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Document type: Conference paper
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Ecosystem engineers, mine countermeasure, remote sensing, biogenic reefs |
| Abstract |
Worldwide the marine environment is exploited increasingly and new challenges arise for communication, transportation, blue energy, seabed mining, aquaculture and coastal tourism. Meanwhile, the world of mine countermeasure is deeply changing as well, in terms of tactics, planning, sea monitoring, recognition and neutralization of threats. Human activities are increasingly regulated to steer exploitation towards most efficient, safe and sustainable ways. Safeguarding biodiversity is key and needs monitoring using most time- and cost-efficient ways. Biogenic reefs often form hotspots of biodiversity and therefore are important in the assessment of good environmental status of the marine environment (e.g.,Europe’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; Directive 2008/56/EC). As ecosystem engineers they modify, create or define habitats by altering the habitat’s physical properties. From a military perspective, this poses challenges for mine countermeasure. First, biogenic reefs can hide manmade objects or even built on them. Secondly, they are visualized on sonar images showing mostly features with comparable dimensions to man-made targets; and lastly, their scattered spatial distribution makes monitoring and detection difficult. To provide assistance in discriminating seabed from man-made targets, a comprehensive table is constructed collecting the most recent and significant acoustic images showing the characteristic acoustic signature of a group of structural ecosystem engineers such as seagrass beds or tubeworms and evaluating the impact for mine countermeasure. |
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