View new data on Infomar Image Webmapping Site

New data is now available on the Infomar Image Webmapping site and in the INFOMAR webmapping services from the following surveys:

Geo11_01 - Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
KRY11_01 -  Waterford Harbour
Geo11_02 - Waterford Harbour
KRY12_02 – Bunmahon, Co. Waterford
CV11_MeshAtlantic - Kenmare Bay,  Kerry/Cork
CV12_SEAI_Clare - West of Clare
KRY11_03 -  Killard Point, Co. Clare
KRY11_03 – South of Achill Island, Co. Mayo
Geo11_04 - South of Achill Island, Co. Mayo

These are primarily near shore surveys and the location of these new surveys is shown in yellow in the map.

These surveys were carried out by the R.V. Keary, the R.V. Geo and the R.V. Celtic Voyager.  Data produced from these surveys include bathymetry grids, shaded relief and a backscatter images, tracklines and survey polygons.

This image shows bathymetry data from survey around Inishbofin, Inishshark and south of Achill Island.

This is a shaded relief image of bathymetry data collected in Kenmare Bay.

The survey of Kenmare Bay was carried out by the Mesh Atlantic project with support from the INFOMAR project in terms of personnel and equipment. The Mesh Atlantic partnership is compromised of IFREMER, IMA, DIREN Bretagne (France), Marine Institute (Ireland), AZTI, IEO (Spain), ICNB, INRB, Universities of Aveiro, Azores, Algarve (Portugal).

In addition there is also new data on the website for sediment samples.  This includes historical samples in Zone 3 and particle size analysis results for sediment samples taken in 2011 and 2012.

Please note:

• All of the image layers on this website are also available as WMS services which can be used in ESRI ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Explorer online and other freely available mapping packages, see the Google kml and WMS Links page for details.

• It is possible to download data used in the site. Use the   button in the tool bar at the top right of the page to click and drag a box around an area of interest, the tool will open our IWDDS download site and you then select the type of data you are interested in downloading.

Please note also to improve performance some of these layers are cached locally onto your computer as you browse the website.  In order to see new data it is necessary to clear the local cache and reload the page.  To do this in:

• Internet Explorer: click Tools > Delete Browsing History >Check Temporary Internet Files and click Delete.

• Mozilla Firefox: click Tools > Clear Recent History > Check Cache and click Clear Now

• Google Chrome: in the Chrome menu select Tools > Clear browsing data > Check Cache and click Clear Browsing data 

KRY12_03 / GEO12_02 - Inishbofin, Inishturk & Killary Harbour

In July and August 2012, the RV Keary and RV Geo spent several weeks mapping the seabed around Inishbofin, Inishturk and Killary Harbour. The vessels were based in Inishbofin harbour for the duration of the survey.

Initially, two specific sites were mapped for BIM (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) who are investigating the potential of deep-water aquaculture sites in the area. In addition, a larger area around the islands was mapped to provide bathymetric data for oceanographic current modelling to be carried out by the Marine Institute, along with extending INFOMAR coverage into the area around the islands.

The survey data revealed very interesting underwater topography, containing extensive rocky outcrop, fault lines and sedimentary features.

Below are images of the survey coverage and the vessels at work. Note that the colour scales may vary between the survey coverage images - the red and blue ends of the spectrum represent shallower and deeper water, respectively.

Survey coverage by RV Keary and RV Geo around Inishbofin and Inishturk. The RV Geo carried out the shallower water mapping along the coastlines. Data in this image is still in the process of being finalised and contains some errors.

The "Stags" rocks off the NW coast of Inishbofin.

A view of Inishturk's rugged coastline from the RV Geo.

RV Keary.

A backscatter map of the seabed around Inishbofin and Inishturk, merged with a shaded relief map. Backscatter maps are produced from the strength of the sound waves returning to the multibeam sonar, having reflected off the seafloor - this provides information on seafloor hardness, which is then represented in greyscale here (darker shades represent harder seabed). The grey polygon in the centre and eastern part of the map represents the extent of seabed previously mapped by the RV Celtic Explorer.

Folded rock strata on Inishturk's coastline. The onshore geology on both islands is complex and ancient - the seabed mapping carried out during the survey should help to extend the understanding of it into the offshore environment.

RV Keary transiting from Inishbofin to Cleggan.

RV Keary tied up alongside Inishbofin's ferry, the Island Discovery, in Inishbofin harbour.

Structural geology of Inishturk, with seabed coverage by RV Keary and RV Geo around the island. Onshore, faults are shown in black and the synclinal axes of folded strata are shown in red. The fault marked with the red arrow appears to extend offshore in a south-easterly direction as a discontinuity in the seabed rock outcrop.

Along with successfully acquiring bathymetric data, the INFOMAR vessels completed inshore mapping around Inishbofin and Inishturk - the data will be freely available in several formats on the INFOMAR website in the future.