Padstow Bay and Surrounds BSH

Feature class depicting broadscale habitat features at The Padstow Bay and Surrounds MCZ. The map is a result of an integrated analysis of existing MBES full coverage of bathymetry and partial coverage of backscatter data from the Civil Hydrography Programme (CHP) and dedicated ground-truthing survey data, collected in 2013. Habitat classes observed at each ground-truthing station were used to inform a semi-automated process of map production using object-based image analysis (OBIA). The map shows the seabed at the site to be characterised largely by outcropping bedrock (‘A3.2 Moderate energy infralittoral rock’ and ‘A4.2 Moderate energy circalittoral rock’), with deposits of ‘A5.1 Subtidal coarse sediment’ in valleys and crevasses in the rock and flat areas of ‘A5.2 Subtidal sand ‘, mainly closer to shore.