Continuous, High-Resolution Mapping of Coastal Seafloor Sediment Distribution

Seafloor topography and grain size distribution are pivotal features in marine coastal environments, able to influence benthic community structure ecological processes at many spatial scales. Accordingly, there is a strong interest multiple research disciplines obtain seafloor geological and/or habitat maps. The aim of this study was provide novel, automatic simple model high-resolution maps, using backscatter bathymetric multibeam system data. For purpose, we calibrated linear regression relating values, extracted from samples collected 16 km2 area near Bagnoli–Coroglio (southern Italy), against depth-derived covariates. achieved excellent goodness-of-fit predictive accuracy, yielding detailed, spatially explicit predictions size. We also showed that ground-truth sample as large 40% considered sufficient calibrate analogous models different areas. Regardless some limitations (i.e., inability predict rocky outcrops seagrass meadows), our modeling approach proved be flexible tool whose main advantage the rendering continuous map for sediment size, lieu categorical mapping approaches which usually report sharp boundaries or rely on few classes.