Marine mapping and classification on Svalbard – a project for the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund

Summary

Good information on coastal marine conditions is essential for management and planning. This project aimed to integrate, model and make available marine base maps for Svalbard. Depth, ocean current speed, salinity, temperature, different terrain types (incl. slope, basins) and areas of avalanches and unsorted sediment have been modelled/delineated at a coarse scale (for the entire Svalbard), at a medium scale (for selected fjords) and/or at a fine scale (for the Kongsfjord). We also integrated point data on kelp and sediment dwelling animals (infauna) and classified for the Kongsfjord in order to find areas most likely suitable for kelp growth and that potentially have an above average number of fauna individuals in the sediments.