16

Part  B  -  Technical  instructions

Table  1.1:  Side  scan  sonar  (SSS)  survey  of  sediment  and  habitat  structure  and  its
dynamics.

Baseline  study

Construction
phase

Operation  phase

Objectives

Investigation  of  ground  morphology ­
  and  type  of  substratum  for
benthos  programme  planning,
for  determining  a  suitable  reference ­
  area,  for  interpretation  of
benthos  data  and  for  demarcation ­
  of  habitat  types  protected
by  §  30  BNatSchG.
Verification  of  images  by  grab
sampling  (ground  truthing).

Investigation  of  ground  morphology ­
  and  substratum  for  small  and
medium  scale  detection  of  relevant ­
  impacts  caused  by  wind  turbines. ­


Scope

SSS  studies  and  ground  truthing
at  seabed  surface  shall  be  conducted ­
  in  juncture  with  the  geological ­
  investigations  for  a  geotechnical ­
  survey  of  wind  turbine
and  cable  route  sites.
The  investigations  shall  be  carried ­
  out  in  both  the  project  and
the  reference  area  and  have  to
take  into  consideration  the
scope  of  the  Geotechnical  Site
Investigation  Standard  (see  Table
4  and  Table  10,  BSH  2013).
The  survey  results  collected  in
the  context  of  geological  monitoring ­
  must  be  used  for  the  ecological ­
  evaluation  of  the  sediment
and  habitat  structure  and  its  dynamics. ­


SSS  studies  and  ground  truthing
at  seabed  surface  shall  be  conducted ­
  in  juncture  with  the  geological ­
  monitoring  of  wind  turbines
and  cable  routes.
The  investigations  have  to  take
into  consideration  the  scope  of
the  Geotechnical  Site  Investigation ­
  Standard  (see  Table  4  and  Table ­
  10,  BSH  2013).
The  survey  results  collected  in  the
context  of  geological  monitoring
must  be  used  for  the  ecological
evaluation  of  the  sediment  and
habitat  structure  and  its  dynamics. ­


Timing

Once  (see  Geotechnical  Site
Investigation  Standard,  Table  4
and  Table  10,  BSH  2013).

In  the  third  and  fifth  year  of  operation ­
  phase,  in  co-ordination  with
the  annual  geological  monitoring
(see  Geotechnical  Site  Investigation ­
  Standard,  Table  4  and  Table
10,  BSH  2013).

Method

Carrying  out  of  SSS  studies  and
grab  sampling  (ground  truthing)
according  to  Geotechnical  Site
Investigation  Standard  (see
Table  4  and  Table  10,  BSH  2013).

Carrying  out  of  SSS  studies  and
grab  sampling  (ground  truthing)
according  to  Geotechnical  Site  Investigation ­
  Standard  (see  Table  4
and  Table  10,  BSH  2013).

Presentation ­
  of
results

Compilation  of  ground  morphology  and  substratum  type  maps:
•  GIS  or  CAD  format  (the  data  must  be  provided  compatible  with  the  xy  standard).
•  Geodetic  reference  system:  Lat/  Long  (WGS  84).
•  Illustration  of  ground  truthing  stations.
The  station  grid  for  the  subsequent  infauna  programme  shall  be  determined  on  the
basis  of  the  SSS  results  (see  Table  1.3).
Figure  1,  p.  42  provides  an  assessment  regarding  the  occurrence  of  homogeneous
and  heterogeneous  sediments  in  the  FEZ  of  the  North  Sea.