Remotely sensing the German Wadden Sea-a new approach to address national and international environmental legislation.
The Wadden Sea along the North Sea coasts of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. Its habitats are highly productive and harbour high standing stocks and densities of benthic species, well adapted to the demanding environmental conditions. Therefore, the Wadden Sea is one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world and thus protected by national and international legislation, which amongst others requires extensive monitoring. Due to the inaccessibility of major areas of the Wadden Sea, a classification approach based on optical and radar remote sensing has been developed to support environmental monitoring programmes. In this study, the general classification framework as well as two specific monitoring cases, mussel beds and seagrass meadows, are presented. The classification of mussel beds profits highly from inclusion of radar data due to their rough surface and achieves agreements of up to 79 % with areal data from the regular monitoring programme. Classification of seagrass meadows reaches even higher agreements with monitoring data (up to 100 %) and furthermore captures seagrass densities as low as 10 %. The main classification results are information on area and location of individual habitats. These are needed to fulfil environmental legislation requirements. One of the major advantages of this approach is the large areal coverage with individual satellite images, allowing simultaneous assessment of both accessible and inaccessible areas and thus providing a more complete overall picture.
Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation, National Park Authority, Schlossgarten 1, 25832, Tönning, Germany.
Gabriele
G
Müller
Brockmann Consult GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 2, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany.
Kerstin
K
Stelzer
Brockmann Consult GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 2, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany.
Susan
S
Smollich
Institute of Oceanography, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany. martin.gade@uni-hamburg.de.
Martin
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6514-1272
M
Gade
National Park Authority Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony, Virchowstr. 1, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Winny
W
Adolph
Institute of Oceanography, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
Sabrina
S
Melchionna
Institute of Oceanography, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
Linnea
L
Kemme
Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation, National Park Authority, Schlossgarten 1, 25832, Tönning, Germany.
Jasmin
J
Geißler
National Park Authority Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony, Virchowstr. 1, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Gerald
G
Millat
State Agency for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas, Hamburger Chaussee 25, 24220, Flintbek, Germany.
Hans-Christian
HC
Reimers
Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation, National Park Authority, Schlossgarten 1, 25832, Tönning, Germany.
Jörn
J
Kohlus
Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation, National Park Authority, Schlossgarten 1, 25832, Tönning, Germany.
Kai
K
Eskildsen
D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000254:growth & development*; D049872:Bivalvia; D003718:Denmark; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005858:Germany; D009426:Netherlands; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010944:Plants; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology
Environmental EU directives; Monitoring; Mussel beds; Satellite remote sensing; Seagrass; Wadden Sea
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