Description: Sedimentological and geotechnical analyses were carried out on two undisturbed large diameter deep sea cores from the Antarctic sector of the Atlantic ocean. One core, from a silled basin within the Bransfield Strait is characterized by fine grained hemipelagic material and turbidite layers. The other core, from the continental slope of the Weddell Sea represents a typical glacial marine environment. The variations of physical properties as related to both an increasing overburden pressure (or depth below top of core) and/or to lithological changes are discussed. With increasing overburden pressure only small variations of physical properties were observed. In core 14882-2 the porosity decreases 0.7% per meter, the natural water content 6% per meter. The wet bulk density and the shear strength increase with rates of 0.015 g/cm3 and 0.5 KPa per meter. Compared to small variations in consolidation, the changes of the lithology cause more extreme variations of physical properties: e.g. decreases the natural water content by 100%, the porosity by 14%, and the wet bulk density increases by 0.23 g/cm3 due to a turbidite layer in the core from the Bransfield Strait (core 14882-2). In the core from the continental slope of the Weddell Sea (core 14875-1) two major unconformities have been detected. The ice-rafted debris of this core causes a generally lower porosity (64%), a lower natural water content (75%), a higher wet bulk density (1.55 g/cm3) and specific grain density (2.62 g/cm3), compared to the core from the Bransfield Strait (porosity 77% , natural water content 151% , wet bulk density 1.34 g/cm3, specific grain density 2.47 g/cm3).

Description: Marine habitats of shelf seas are in constant dynam- ic change and therefore need regular assessment particularly in areas of special interest. In this study, the single-beam acoustic ground discrimination system RoxAnn served to as- sess seafloor hardness and roughness, and combine these pa- rameters into one variable expressed as RGB (red green blue) color code followed by k-means fuzzy cluster analysis (FCA). The data were collected at a monitoring site west of the island of Helgoland (German Bight, SE North Sea) in the course of four surveys between September 2011 and November 2014. The study area has complex characteristics varying from out- cropping bedrock to sandy and muddy sectors with mostly gradual transitions. RoxAnn data enabled to discriminate all seafloor types that were suggested by ground-truth informa- tion (seafloor samples, video). The area appears to be quite stable overall; sediment import (including fluid mud) was de- tected only from the NW. Although hard substrates (boulders, bedrock) are clearly identified, the signal can be modified by inclination and biocover. Manually, six RoxAnn zones were identified; for the FCA, only three classes are suggested. The latter classification based on ‘hard’ boundaries would sufficefor stakeholder issues, but the former classification based on ‘soft’ boundaries is preferred to meet state-of-the-art scientific objectives.

Description: To determine the spatial resolution of sediment properties and benthic macrofauna communities in acoustic backscatter, the suitability of four acoustic seafloor classification devices (single-beam echosounder with RoxAnn and QTC 5.5 seafloor classification system, sidescan sonar with QTC Swathview seafloor classification, and multi-beam echosounder with QTC Swathview seafloor classification) was compared in a study area of approx. 6 km2 northwest of the island of Helgoland in the German Bight, southern North Sea. This was based on a simple similarity index between simultaneous sidescan sonar, single-beam echosounder and multi-beam echosounder profiling spanning the period 2011–2014. The results show a high similarity between seafloor classifications based on sidescan sonar and RoxAnn single-beamsystems, in turn associated with a lower similarity for the multi-beam echosounder system. Analyses of surface sediment samples at 39 locations along four transects (0.1 m2 Van Veen grab) revealed the presence of sandy mud (southern and western parts), coarse sand, gravel and cobbles. Rock outcrops were identified in the north-eastern and eastern parts. A typical Nucula nitidosa–Abra alba community was found in sandy muds to muddy sands in the northern part, whereas the southern part is characterised by widespread occurrence of the ophiuroid brittle star Amphiura filiformis. A transitional N. nitidosa–A. filiformis community was detected in the central part. Moreover, the southern part is characterised by a high abundance of A. filiformis and its commensal bivalve Kurtiella bidentata. The high number of A. filiformis feeding arms (up to ca. 6,800 per m2) can largely explain the gentle change of backscatter intensity along the tracks, because sediment composition and/or seafloor structures showed no significant variability.

Description: A series of multibeam bathymetry surveys revealed the emergence of a large pockmark field in the southeastern North Sea. Covering an area of around 915 km2, up to 1,200 pockmarks per square kilometer have been identified. The time of emergence can be confined to 3 months in autumn 2015, suggesting a very dynamic genesis. The gas source and the trigger for the simultaneous outbreak remain speculative. Subseafloor structures and high methane concentrations of up to 30 mmol/l in sediment pore water samples suggest a source of shallow biogenic methane from the decomposition of post-glacial deposits in a paleo river valley. Storm waves are suggested as the final trigger for the eruption of the gas. Due to the shallow water depths and energetic conditions at the presumed time of eruption, a large fraction of the released gas must have been emitted to the atmosphere. Conservative estimates amount to 5 kt of methane, equivalent to 67% of the annual release from the entire North Sea. These observations most probably describe a reoccurring phenomenon in shallow shelf seas, which may have been overlooked before because of the transient nature of shallow water bedforms and technology limitations of high resolution bathymetric mapping.

Description: The joint research project WIMO (Wissenschaftliche Monitoringkonzepte für die Deutsche Bucht/Scientific Monitoring Concepts for the German Bight, NE North Sea) aims at providing methods for detection and analysis of seabed habitats using modern remote sensing techniques. Our subproject focuses on hydroacoustic techniques in order to gain information about seafloor environments and sediment dynamics. In a timeframe of four years, several key areas in the German Bight were repeatedly observed using different hydroacoustic gear (i. e. sidescan sonars, single/multibeam echo sounders and sub-bottom profilers). In order to ground-truth the acoustic data, hundreds of grab samples and underwater videos were taken. With these techniques it is possible to distinguish between different seafloor habitats, which range from muddy to sandy seafloors (esp. near the barrier islands) to rugged or vegetated/populated reefs around Helgoland. The conducted monitoring program revealed seasonal changes regarding the abundance of the sand mason worm (Lanice conchilega) and the brittle star (Amphiora filiformis) as well as ongoing sedimentary processes driven by tidal currents and wind/storms. It was also possible to determine relationships between sediment characteristics and benthos in some key areas. An essential part of our project included a comparison between the datasets obtained with different hydroacoustic devices, configurations, and evaluation methods in the same study areas. The investigation reveals that there could be distinct differences in interpreting the data and hence in the determination of prevailing seafloor habitats, especially in very heterogeneous areas and at transition zones between the habitats. Therefore, it is recommended to employ more than one hydroacoustic system (preferably a singlebeam device combined with a wide-swath sonar system) synchronously during a survey in order to gain more reliable and detailed information about the seafloor environments. The results of this project study form an important contribution to ongoing and future projects, in particular with regard to the technical configuration of the sonar systems, the workflows concerning post-processing and validation of the hydroacoustic data as well as the monitoring concepts that were worked out. However, a full automation of these workflows is not feasible. For the time being, measurements, post-processing and data evaluation still need supervision and expert knowledge.

Description: Sorted bedforms are ubiquitous on the inner continental shelves worldwide. They are described as spatially-grain-size-sorted features consisting of small rippled medium-to-coarse sand and can remain stable for decades. However, the knowledge about their genesis and development is still fragmentary. For this study, a representative investigation area (water depth 〈15 m) located on the shelf west of the island of Sylt (SE North Sea, Germany) was periodically surveyed with hydroacoustic means (i.e. sidescan sonar, multibeam echo sounder, and sub-bottom profiler) during 2010-2014. Since this area is influenced by tidal and wind-driven currents, the aim was to detect and examine interannual variabilities in the characteristics of the prevailing sorted bedforms. Our measurements reveal sinuous stripes of rippled medium sand which are embedded in shallow symmetrical depressions. These domains are surrounded by relatively smooth fine-sand areas. These sorted bedforms were identified as flow-transverse features that are maintained by ebb and flood currents of almost equal strengths that flow in opposite directions. This bidirectional flow field generates sharp boundaries between the medium- and fine-sand domains in both current directions. Further to the north, where flood currents are dominant, asymmetric sorted bedforms were detected which show sharp boundaries only in flood-current direction. Comparisons between the measurements of the different years show no significant variations in morphology and distribution of the sorted bedforms. However, variations of the boundaries between the medium and the fine-sand domains were observed. Additionally, new minor sorted bedforms and rippled excavation marks as well as new fine-sand areas developed and disappeared occasionally. It can be supposed that such sediment winnowing and focusing processes take place during periodically recurring storm surges, which change the shapes of the features. Moreover, variations in alignments and sizes of the small ripple formations were detected. They seem to indicate the directions and intensities of previous storm events.