Marine Mapping Scientist

Mapping of marine habitats is core to JNCC’s marine work, supporting the monitoring, assessment, protected sites, marine advice and natural capital programmes of work as well as the work of other organisations and industry. This post is part of the team that deliver this marine mapping work.

The Marine Habitat Mapping project works to improve the quality and coverage of the UK’s marine habitat mapping resource. This includes the collation, standardisation, combination and confidence assessment of a UK compilation of habitat maps derived from survey[1], continuing work started with other European countries by the MESH project, and developed further to expand the coverage of maps across European waters (e.g. in the Atlantic area through MESH Atlantic) particularly to facilitate implementation of European policies such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Development of seabed habitat maps relies heavily on seabed habitat and biotope classification. Whilst this area of work has been developed in UK and integrated across Europe, some areas of the classification are data-poor and require further development to assimilate new seabed data acquired over the last 5-10 years.

Marine surveys only cover a small proportion of UK and European seas. Where there are gaps in this coverage of survey maps, habitat models of the seabed have been developed both for the UK and through international consortia (UKSeaMap and EUSeaMap[2] respectively). EUSeaMap phase 1 (2009-2012) delivered the ‘Habitats’ element of a wider initiative developed by the European Commission called EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data network), which aims to improve access to all marine data across Europe. Phase 2 of the EMODnet project ran from 2013 to 2016 and followed on from the work of EUSeaMap to improve on modelling approaches, data quality and validation as well as creating the first broad-scale seabed habitat map of the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. JNCC is now leading a consortium of 12 partners in Phase 3 of the EMODnet project which runs between 2017 and 2019 (with a possible 2-year extension to 2021).

An agreed consistent map for all European seabed habitats will lead to a more coherent assessment of the status of Europe’s seas, as required by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The set of seabed maps and models are also used for making interpreted products which show the distribution of ‘listed’ habitats: EC Habitats Directive Annex I and OPSAR and Habitats of Principal Importance[3]. Sample data from Marine Recorder and other sources are also used in this work.

Post Duties

The post-holder will be working closely with a second Marine Mapping Scientist in the Marine Monitoring and Evidence Team to cover a temporary promotion of the staff member who is backfilling a period of maternity leave. The post-holder will work on the Marine Habitat Mapping and EMODnet Seabed Habitats Projects, and will therefore be exposed to the full range of marine habitat mapping work undertaken by JNCC. The post-holder will undertake a range of duties such as (but not limited to):

• Take a lead role in the collation, cataloguing, re-interpretation and management of existing UK seabed habitat data;
• Contribute to the effective dissemination of marine mapping information relevant to marine nature conservation to the UK Government, the Devolved Administrations, the country nature conservation agencies and others;
• Work collaboratively and build relationships with partners from across Europe as part of the European EMODnet Seabed Habitats consortium;
• Use physical datasets, agreed thresholds and methods established by EMODnet Seabed Habitats to produce the next update to the ‘EUSeaMap’ broad-scale habitat map for the Atlantic sea basins;
• Maintain and further develop dissemination of marine benthic habitat data through online interactive mapping systems and other portals, including working with contractors to develop the online portal for the EMODnet Seabed Habitats project;
• Building relationships and liaising with colleagues in the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, UK Government, Devolved Administrations and research organisations to promote and coordinate the preparation and acquisition of quality assured marine habitat maps and associated data;
• Providing advice on seabed habitat mapping to internal and external colleagues and the public;
• Participate in and/or manage contracts to support JNCC and its marine mapping work.

Competencies

Specialist and Technical

Degree or equivalent qualification and relevant recent practical work experience that provides the following essential knowledge and experience:

• Knowledge and understanding of the UK’s marine biodiversity, including a working knowledge of the national and/or EUNIS marine habitat classification system and the spatial and temporal variation in habitat character.
• Knowledge of the types of data available from marine biological surveys of the seabed in inshore or offshore environments, including remote-sensing, sampling and in-situ marine survey techniques, and the limitations associated with these data.
• Extensive experience in the use of standard office software, databases, and GIS packages (preferably ESRI™ ArcGIS or Quantum GIS) to manipulate, interrogate and interpret spatial datasets, including experience of integrating and analysing different types of marine data from multiple sources.
• Knowledge of, and practical experience in, at least one of the following:

1. Statistical computing using R.
2. Experience working with oceanographic data including ocean colour, wave and tidal models.
3. Creation of seabed habitat maps and/or models using seabed survey data and/or oceanographic data.

Salary

Annual Leave Entitlement