New technology and methods for mapping and monitoring of seabed habitats

The oil industry is expanding, and several areas with drilling activities coincide with habitats listed by OSPAR as being "rare and/or declining". This includes marine sea floor habitats such as corals and deep sea sponge aggregations. For this reason, The Norwegian environmental regulatory authorities have imposed requirements for habitat mapping in advance of exploratory drilling, and post-drilling surveying to map the distribution of deposited drill cuttings and biological impacts. Further, mapping of the sensitivity of the environment is an essential step in oil pollution preparation, response and cooperation efforts, and maps are a crucial tool to assist responders. Today, improved and more efficient mapping and monitoring methods of these sea floor habitats are required. Current state of the art involves video and still imagery, which is a proven, yet time consuming and subjective method. In this project, the aim was to test, optimize and validate a new sensor technology (Underwater Hyperspectral imager) for habitat mapping Ecotone has developed and patented the Underwater Hyperspectral Imager (UHI) system. This is a sensor system mounted on underwater platforms (such as remotely operated vehicles, ROVs). The sensor measures light reflected from the sea floor. The reflectance spectra of the organisms comprise their optical fingerprints. By use of specially designed software, the seafloor organisms are identified, and their abundance and distribution mapped. The project "New Technology and methods for mapping and monitoring of seabed habitats" started in 2014 with Ecotone as project owner and Akvaplan-niva as research partner. Financial support was given from The Research Council of Norway, ConocoPhillips, Lundin Norway, Dea Norge, Statoil, TOTAL, Norwegian Deepwater Programme and ENI Norge. The main underlying ideas were to 1) Develop the UHI system to be integrated with state of the art methods for environmental mapping and monitoring, and 2) Assess it's capability to detect changes in marine organism's health status due to exposure to environmental stressors. Fieldwork was carried out through research surveys and as part of operational surveys in the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, Trondheimsfjorden, coastal Northern Norway and Svalbard, as well as Canadian waters. Cold-water coral reefs and sponge habitats were mapped and classified using spectral characteristics of the various species. The UHI detected and separated between the main types of cold-water corals (Lophelia pertusa, Paragorgia arborea and Primnoa resedaeformis), as well as common sponges (e.g. Geodia sp., Asconema sp., Aplysilla sp.). Key monitoring species (blue mussels, anemones, calcareous algae and sea urchins) were identified with the UHI at hard bottom monitoring stations. Emphasis was put into ensuring compatibility with geographic information systems (GIS) and seabed survey data model (SSDM). The UHI was successfully used to document the spatial extent of drilling mud deposition on the seafloor. This was done through development of an spectral sediment analysis tool. The results coincided markedly with both visual assessment of video material using the human eye and quantitative macrofaunal analyses (grab samples), as used in standard offshore monitoring programmes. The ability of UHI to detect health changes in aquatic organisms was assessed through laboratory studies. Sponges that reached mortality had a significant and distinct change in spectral properties. The health of corals that were exposed to the petroleum compound 2-methyl naphthalene was clearly affected, e.g. increased respiration rates, severe tissue loss, detritus accumulation, decreased polyp activity and mortality. The UHI could be used to distinguish between three levels of exposure (low, medium and high). Thus, promising results were shown for its use in biomonitoring, while more research is required to develop the health detector to a field-ready method. The main conclusion of the project is that the UHI-technology can provide an efficient, objective and quantitative approach towards marine habitat inspection and mapping. Thus, it is in theory possible to reduce the amount of manual labor in traditional image analysis, such that scientific expertise can be focused on interpretation of the acquired data. When the projected ended in June 2017, the UHI system was specified and ready for use. Three manuscripts were prepared to be submitted for peer review in scientific journals. Through new projects and jobs, synergies from the project results have been drawn to other fields, such as aquaculture and marine mapping programs.

There is an increased need for improved and efficient environmental mapping and monitoring of sensitive seabed habitats, especially in relation to industrial activities. The Underwater Hyperspectral Imager (UHI) (patented by Ecotone) measures light refle cted from the seabed. Based on optical fingerprints and specially designed software, identification and quantification of organisms can be done automatically. The main advantages over current state-of-the art mapping procedures involves automated and imp roved classification, quantitative data acquisition, objective interpretation and reduced costs. The objectives of the project New Technology and Methodology for Mapping and Monitoring of Seabed Habitats are as follows: 1. Integrate the UHI system into present standard protocols for environmental mapping and monitoring (improving existing methodology) 2. To assess the capability of UHI to detect changes in condition of selected marine organisms (new innovative method for environmental monitoring) Thre e work packages are prepared: WP1: Offshore pre- and post drilling mapping of sensitive habitats, with focus on sedimentation of fauna and cost-benefit analysis (UHI/video) WP2: Monitoring of small-scale variability in Arctic fjord rocky bottom communitie s, applicable in oil spill response (OSR). WP3: Bio monitoring: Changes in condition of organisms exposed to drill cuttings/dispersed oil in lab. The work packages will result in new protocols for UHI-integrated seabed environmental mapping and monito ring. The work will be organized as a Joint Industry Project (JIP) with Ecotone as project owner and Akvaplan-niva as scientific partner. The project is financed by support from The Norwegian Research Council under the program PETROMAKS2 and industrial p artners, Lundin Norway, ConocoPhillips, RWE Dea Norge and Statoil.