Evaluating climate change impacts on reef environments via multibeam echosounder and Acoustic Doppler Current profiler technology

Mohd Azhafiz Abdullah; L F Chuah; Razak Zakariya; Asad Syed; Rozaimi Che Hasan; Shahrul Miza Mahmud; Abdallah M Elgorban; A Bokhari; Muhammad Saeed Akhtar; Hind A Al-Shwaiman

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2024.118858

Evaluating climate change impacts on reef environments via multibeam echosounder and Acoustic Doppler Current profiler technology

Environ Res. 2024 Apr 10;252(Pt 3):118858. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118858. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Maritime Studies, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia. Electronic address: azhafiz@umt.edu.my.
² School of Technology Management and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia.
³ Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, University Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia.
⁶ Nautica Ship Management Sdn Bhd, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁷ Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology Research, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Chemical Engineering, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Lahore Campus, 54000, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan; School of Engineering, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon. Electronic address: syed.bokhari@lau.edu.lb.
⁹ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 712-749, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: msakhtar@yu.ac.kr.

PMID: 38609066
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118858

Abstract

Crucial to the Earth's oceans, ocean currents dynamically react to various factors, including rotation, wind patterns, temperature fluctuations, alterations in salinity and the gravitational pull of the moon. Climate change impacts coastal ecosystems, emphasizing the need for understanding these currents. This study explores multibeam echosounder (MBES), specifically R2-Sonic 2020 instrument, offering detailed seabed information. Investigating coral reefs, rocky reefs and artificial reefs aimed to map seafloor currents movement and their climate change responses. MBES data viz. Bathymetry and backscatter were classified and acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) ground data were validated using random forest regression. Results indicated high precision in currents speed measurement i.e. coral reefs with 0.96, artificial reefs with 0.94 and rocky reefs with 0.97. Currents direction accuracy was notable in coral reefs with 0.85, slightly lower in rocky reefs with 0.72 and artificial reefs with 0.60. Random forest identified sediment and backscatter as key for speed prediction while direction relies on bathymetry, slope and aspect. The study emphasizes integrating sediment size, backscatter, bathymetry and ADCP data for seafloor current analysis. This multibeam data on sediments and currents support better marine spatial planning and determine biodiversity patterns planning in the reef area.

Keywords: Backscatter; Bathymetry; Climate change; Seafloor currents; Sediment.