SPRES Project

TheThe AgriAgri--FoodFood && BioscienceBioscience InstituteInstitute

Delivering the science to underpin an ecosystem approach to managing the

55.0 54.8 Irish Sea and its natural resources. 54.6

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TheThe AgriAgri--FoodFood && BioscienceBioscience InstituteInstitute

1) Statutory monitoring obligations

2) Research themes: - Fisheries stock assessment (fishery-dependent and fishery-independent programmes). - Coastal zone science (resource assessment, modelling sea lough carrying capacity). - Biological oceanography and marine ecosystem health.

3) Emergency response capacity for the Department of Agriculture SPRES Project

Belfast Lough

• The Lough is a shallow semi-enclosed bay 10.9 km wide at it widest point.

• Extensive mud flats at the western end from which the bay shelves gently to a maximum depth of approximately 20m

• At low water the Lough has a total volume of 846.78 x 106m3, a tidal range of 3.5m and flushes in 1.44 days.

• Two well-defined tidal flows exist; The inner Lough has a simple oscillatory system & the outer Lough has a clockwise rotary pattern of water movement. SPRES Project

General Characteristics of Belfast Lough

• Volume 1548 million m3 • Total area 130 km2 • Maximum depth 23m • Catchment area 900 km2 • Temperature 2-21 ºC • Mean salinity 28 psu • Flushing time 1.8 days • Freshwater run-off 1022 million m3 y-1 SPRES Project

Belfast Lough

• The catchment of Belfast Lough covers an area of just over 900 km2 of which approximately 60% forms the drainage area of the River Lagan, Belfast Lough’s primary freshwater source.

• At its head lies the city of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland and the home of approximately one third of its population. Along the Lough’s shores the principal conurbations are Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus, to the North, with Holywood and Bangor, to the South though all these areas are small relative to Belfast.

• The Port of Belfast handles circa 60% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and 20% of the entire island's with the Port's hinterland extending significantly into the Republic of Ireland. SPRES Project

Port of Belfast

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

Passengers (000's)

Passengers 1,258 1,318 1,329 1289 1274 Bulk Cargo (000's Tonnes) Liquid Bulk 2,108 2,500 2,521 2558 2697 Dry Bulk 4,019 3,915 3,154 3399 3338 Break Bulk 332 271 304 597 662 Important Commodities (000’s tonnes) Petroleum Products 1,995 2,373 2,373 2411 2562 Coal 484 270 249 488 218 Shipping

Gross Tonnage (000’s tons) 72,413 73,906 73,570 73005 73891

Number of Arrivals 5,441 5,664 5,534 5853 6111

Figures reproduced from Belfast Harbour Annual report SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Bathymetry Data 1) Belfast Lough Bathymetry was modelled as part of the SMILE project (2006) using a digitised Admiralty Bathymetry for a Delft 3D hydro-dynamic model. This can be made available or re-created from the Admiralty data (estimated 500 soundings). SPRES Project SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Bathymetry Data 1) Belfast Lough Bathymetry was modelled as part of the SMILE project (2006) using a digitised Admiralty Bathymetry for a Delft 3D hydro-dynamic model. This can be made available or re-created from the Admiralty data (estimated 500 soundings).

2) Outer Belfast Lough has good High Resolution Multibeam Bathymetry courtesy of the Royal Navy and AFBI. Data can be integrated at various resolutions and used with conditional access. If required, AFBI can perform a multibeam survey on the remainder of the lough and offer cost-savings by integrating this survey with other mapping programmes. SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Bathymetry Data SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Bathymetry Data 1) Belfast Lough Bathymetry was modelled as part of the SMILE project (2006) using a digitised Admiralty Bathymetry for a Delft 3D hydro-dynamic model. This can be made available or re-created from the Admiralty data (estimated 500 soundings).

2) Outer Belfast Lough has good High Resolution Multibeam Bathymetry courtesy of the Royal Navy and AFBI. Data can be integrated at various resolutions and used with conditional access. If required, AFBI can perform a multibeam survey on the remainder of the lough and offer cost-savings by integrating this survey with other mapping programmes.

3) Belfast Lough was surveyed using RoxAnn in 1999 - 19692 datapoints were retained after data cleaning. Data is not currently de-tided but can be processed for use as a medium resolution single beam sourced bathymetric model. SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Bathymetry Data SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Monitoring & Metocean

CTD

Wind Tide SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Monitoring & Metocean

River Lagan Flow 2001 - 2003

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Belfast Lough – Operational Models

SMILE Model

Hydrodynamic modelling of the Lough was undertaken by AFBI as part of the Sustainable Mariculture in Northern Irish Sea Loughs (SMILE) Project, Ferreira et al (2007). Two hydrodynamic models were used; the high resolution DELFT 3D model which defined boundary conditions outside the lough and provided detailed information on currents, and the lower resolution Ecowin model which is more suitable for ecological studies.

MCA oil spill forecasting models SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Data & GIS layers

Layer Coverage Description Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Shoreline Outfalls, FW inputs, microbiology DELFT approx' 8 * 16 points Direction & Magnitude. 1 year @ 30 minute res' E2K boxes Model boxes for SMILE ecosystem model Aquaculture North of Channel & intertidal Aquaculture sites Habitats Whole Lough Interpolation from 19k AGDS data points Fauna Detailed survey 2010 - not yet reported Smile oceanographic data 20 + points over 2 years Spatial surveys within the Lough Moored oceanographic data Single point, 15 years AFBI data

Moored oceanographic data Multiple points, variable duration AFBI dredge & EIA monitoring data PSA Data Detailed survey 2010 - not yet reported AFBI data HAB monitoring programme 15 stations AFBI & FSA data Bird Data Entire Lough Shoreline RSPB data Multibeam Data Outer Lough Royal Navy & AFBI licensed data Soundings (SeaZone) 500 data points Licensed data access Sediments & Biota fixed points ? Environment Agency Data Environmental designations Whole Lough EROCIPS outputs Risk Maps, ariel snap-maps etc SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Data & GIS layers SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Data & GIS layers SPRES Project SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Data & GIS layers SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Data & GIS layers SPRES Project SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Contingency Plans

Northern Ireland Coastal Contingency Plan in the event of a Major Marine Pollution Incident SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Contingency Plans SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Contingency Plans SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Contingency Plans

EROCIPS Project SPRES Project

Belfast Lough – Contingency Plans