Abstract

Sediment plumes: automated analysis for cost savings
Track: Analysis and Geoprocessing
Authors: Andrew Goh

The UK marine aggregate industry supplies 20 million tonnes of sand and gravel. The dredging process produces plumes of sediment at the seafloor; understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of these plumes is critical for determining the extent of potential environmental impacts. Traditionally these plumes were mapped through manual digitizing of high resolution imagery, a time consuming and expensive process. Through consultation with marine environmental experts a methodology detailing accurate placement and modeling of plume concentrations was developed to automate this interpretation. This approach was implemented initially through ESRI's model builder and then through development of a custom Python script, dramatically reducing man-hours and analysis costs. This case study describes the key stages and challenges in the script development from design through development, testing and finally application; highlighting in particular how careful planning and design enables reusable code to be developed that can be applied to similar environmental challenges.