High resolution remote sensing data for environmental modelling: Some case studies

Some Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) case studies have been investigated in order to evidence the importance of highresolution Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) wind data in semi-enclosed coastal seas. The MSP technique consisted in the optimum location of mussel aquaculture farms, on the basis of a Sustainability Index (SI) constructed with both physical and biological environmental parameters. In the Kattegat, we investigated with SI the location sites already occupied by offshore wind farms, while in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea we verified the optimum location of the existing offshore mussel farms. The MSP results showed in both cases a significant improvement due to the increased resolution of remote sensing data and of the oceanographic models used for the simulations.

1. Introduction

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is widely used for investigating complementary uses of marine space, such as the co-location of offshore wind farms and mussel aquaculture. In the Danish coastal waters this technique demonstrated the profitable co-location of offshore wind farms and mussel aquaculture, which is possible for both limited depths [1] and also for higher depths, provided that the current technology is capable to solve mooring problems [2]–[4].