AORA Logo

 

Seabed and Benthic Habitat Mapping


Seabed and Benthic Habitat Mapping
Shadow

This work package supports the AORA Working Group on Seabed Mapping also known as the Atlantic Seabed Mapping International Working Group (ASMIWG). The Work Package is led by Dr. Pål Buhl-Mortensen at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR). The IMR undertakes research on marine resources, the marine environment and aquaculture. The principal objective of the IMR is to provide scientific advice in the above areas to the authorities, industry and society as a whole.

Pål is a Senior Research Scientist in the Benthic Habitat Research Group of the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway. His specialty fields cover coral ecology and biodiversity, habitat mapping including distribution and description of vulnerable marine ecosystems. He has participated in several scientific expert groups such as the ICES WG on Mapping the Occurrence of Cold Water Corals (SGCOR), ICES WG on Deep-Water ecology (WGDEC) and Chair of the ICES Working Group on Marine Habitat Mapping (WGMHM). He led an Expert Group for the Development of a European ISO Standard for Benthic Investigations using tethered inspection tools in deep water, and has also been a consulting expert for the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management involving Advice on Ecological Quality Objectives for Corals and other Threatened and/or Declining Habitats for SPAR since 2007. He has led several national research projects and worked on several EU projects (HER<MES, HERMIONE, MESMA, BENTHIS). Pål has planned and led over 16 cruises in the MAREANO seabed mapping campaign.

Within the AORA-CSA, Pål provides scientific, technical and logistical support to the AORA Working Group on Seabed Mapping aka ASMIWG (see above). In this context, Pål also works with the AORA-CSA WP on Ocean Literacy, WP 10 Shared Access to Marine Research Infrastructures, WP 5 Ocean Observation and WP 11 Knowledge Sharing Platform as well as the AORA-CSA Secretariat.

This work package prepared a short bibliography of publications on Seabed and Habitat Mapping relevant for mapping in the offshore North Atlantic.

Institute of Marine Research Norway

Work Package Leader



Dr Pål Buhl-Mortensen
Benthic Communities and Coastal interactions

ICES
www.imr.no