Dataset of Submerged Sand Deposits organised in an interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructure (Western Sardinia, Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

Abstract. The expected sea level rise by the year 2100 will determine an adaptation of the whole coastal system and the land retreat of the shoreline. Future scenarios coupled with the improving of mining technologies will favour an increased exploitation of sand deposits for nourishments, especially for urban beaches and sandy coasts with lowlands behind. Objective of the work is to provide useful tools to support planning actions in the management of sand deposits located in the continental shelf of western Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea). The work has been realized through the integration of data and information collected during several projects. Available data consist of morpho-bathymetric data (multibeam) associated with morphoacoustic (backscatter) data, collected in the depth range −25 to −700 m. Extensive coverage of high-resolution seismic profiles (Chirp 3.5 kHz) have been acquired along the continental shelf. Also surface sediment samples (Van Veen grab and box corer) and vibrocores have been collected. These data allow mapping of the submerged sand deposits with the determination of their thickness and volumes, and their sedimentological characteristics. Furthermore, it is possible to map the seabed geomorphological features of the continental shelf of western Sardinia. All the available data (doi: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.895430) have been integrated and organized in a geodatabase implemented through a GIS and the software suite Geoinformation Enabling Toolkit StarterKit® (GET-IT), developed by researchers of the Italian National Research Council for RITMARE project. GET-IT facilitates the creation of distributed nodes of an interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and enables unskilled researchers from various scientific domains to create their own Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard services for distributing geospatial data, observations and metadata of sensors and datasets. Data distribution through standard services follows the guidelines of the European Directive INSPIRE (DIRECTIVE 2007/2/EC); in particular, standard metadata describe each map level, containing identifiers such as data type, origin, property, quality, processing processes to foster data searching and quality assessment.