Fugro carried out a series of surveys at 26 locations around the Welsh coast, together with various other field surveys and water quality sampling.

Dŵr Cyrmu Welsh Water (DCWW) is investing over £8 million in this project, with the aim of establishing a better understanding of Wales’ coastal waters and to facilitate future conservation efforts, with an emphasis on protecting bathing and shellfish waters.

The Project

The marine operations undertaken by Fugro’s Coastal Oceanography department included the deployment of seabed mounted Acoustic Current Doppler Profilers (ADCPs) at 15 locations, and data collected using vessel-mounted ADCPs at a further 11 locations.

These instruments collected current velocity and tidal elevation data over a 30 day period. Current velocity profiles were recorded over a 13 hour period at fixed vessel-mounted locations, and vertical profiles of conductivity and temperature were also taken at various depths by the field team at hourly intervals.

Data will be used to develop and validate computer models which will assist with maintaining the required high water quality standards at designated bathing beaches.

“It has been a pleasure to be involved with such a large key project, and it’s great to know that our data will be used in future conservation works. During fieldwork it was great to see first-hand the stunning Welsh coastline and important coastal habitats that will benefit from our contribution to the overall study. This project has been a challenge for many reasons, but a successful challenge which has resulted in a large, high quality dataset,” said Tim Roberts, Oceanographer and project manager, Fugro.

Source: Fugro