Equinor cold-water coral surveys on the Norwegian continental shelf

Aksel Alstad Mogstad1, Ingunn Nilssen1, Aksel Alstad Mogstad2

1 Equinor, , Norway; 2 Equinor, , Norway

Corresponding author(s): Aksel Alstad MogstadIngunn Nilssen

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Mogstad A A, Nilssen I (2023): Equinor cold-water coral surveys on the Norwegian continental shelf. v1.1. Equinor. Dataset/Samplingevent. https://ipt.gbif.no/resource?r=equinor-1&v=1.1

Abstract

As part of regular environmental monitoring, Equinor performs cold-water coral surveys on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Cold-water corals are key species in the marine environment that are known to form two important habitat types: coral reefs and coral gardens. On the NCS, the coral reefs are predominantly made up of the scleractinian coral Desmophyllum pertusum (formerly known as Lophelia pertusa), whereas the coral gardens consist of several soft coral species (gorgonians) grouped together. Both coral reefs and gardens are covered by Equinor’s surveys.
The coral surveys are performed using visual ROV inspection according to the Handbook of Species and Habitats of Environmental Concern (offshorenorge.no). The surveyed coral locations are provided as georeferenced polygons that may be plotted in any GIS application. For each surveyed location, the corals are evaluated based on coverage and health. For coral reefs, the approximate living area (m2) and living coral coverage (%) are reported along with a corresponding health classification (poor, fair, good or excellent). For coral gardens, the number of specimens per 25 m2 is reported along with a health classification equivalent to that of coral reefs. Note that both reefs and gardens often are present at the same location.

Keywords: Samplingevent

General description

Purpose: As part of Equinor's biodiversity position, we support the principle of sharing data from our impact assessments and environmental monitoring activities with the scientific community and the general public. We actively participate in a wide range of research programmes and industry partnerships to further build knowledge and develop innovative solutions to protect biodiversity.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.no/resource?r=equinor-1

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Cold-water corals
Taxonomic ranks
Order: Alcyonacea
Species: Desmophyllum pertusum

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Equinor cold-water coral surveys on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Coordinates: 64°18'14.54''N and 66°5'9.9''N Latitude; 6°24'13.49''E and 8°14'58.98''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: April 28, 2013 - May 27, 2022

Methods

Method step description: 

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Equinor cold-water coral surveys on the Norwegian continental shelf
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.no/archive.do?r=equinor-1
Publication date of data: 2023-03-27
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-03-21
Hierarchy level: Dataset