Observations of sedimentation near a hydrocarbon drilling site and impacts on a sponge specimen

• Main Authors: Durden, Jennifer M, Gates, Andrew R
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2023
• Subjects: Backscatter; CLASS; Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science; current meter; SeaGuard; Current speed; Current speed as east vector; Current speed as north vector; DATE/TIME; Digital camera; Nikon; E995; Echo backscatter; Experiment duration; iAtlantic; Image brightness; RGB mean value; sponge; Integrated Assessment of Atlantic Marine Ecosystems in Space and Time; LATITUDE; LONGITUDE; Movement distance; 2D; North_Atlantic_Hydrocarbon_Drilling; North Atlantic; offshore drilling; Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology; SERPENT; time-lapse photography; Underwater Photography
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.955147; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.955147

The data consist of hourly observations of sedimentation impacts located approximately 31 m southwest of the drilling location, including measurements of proxies of suspended material in the water column, along with observations of the lamellate desmosponge specimen. Acoustic backscatter (1.9-2.0 MHz) and current speed were measured using a Seaguard RCM DW. A time-lapse camera was also deployed: the Nikon E995 camera was set to F 6.0, ISO 200, exposure 1/60, with photos of 2048 x 1536 pixels. As another estimate of suspended material in the water column, brightness (as mean RGB) was calculated for top corners (256 x 256 pixels) in photos, where the corners were not obscured by fish. Settlement of sediment on the sponge specimen was estimated as brightness of a portion of it (approximately 3600 pixels2) in the images. Movement of the sponge was estimated as the distance between successive xy-positions of the apex of the sponge in images. Mean values (6- and 12-hourly) centred on the hourly data, and sums of distance over 6- and 12-h periods were also calculated.