Abstract

Marine Ecosystem Monitoring in Tohoku, Japan after the Tsunami 2011
Track: Ocean, Coastal, and Marine Resources
Authors: Takehisa Yamakita, Takafumi Kasaya, Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Hiroshi Kitazato, Yuka Yokoyama, Izumi Sakamoto

The Tohoku Ecosystem-Associated Marine Science (TEAMS) project started from 2011. In this project, we are focusing on the impact of tsunami on 11 March 2011 and assessing the situation of marine ecosystem in a next decade. Habitat and ecosystem mapping team in TEAMS aims to determine the effects of great tsunami on marine biodiversity, and to identify ecologically important area for resilience of local ecosystem and fishery. For this purpose, we intensively collect various data from the impacted area in neritic zone of Tohoku district, e.g. bathymetry, geography, oceanography, seafloor classification, benthos, and tsunami-debris. ArcMarine geodatabase is applied for the data management and we estimate suitable predictor variables of species distribution before and after the tsunami impact. We will show preliminary result of habitat mapping in the area and discuss about feasibility of GIS to support the spatial management of marine ecosystem.