Flow, Water column & Benthic Ecology 4D (FLOWBEC)

Flowbec旨在从4个维度测量水流、水柱和底栖生物生态，以评估海洋可再生能源设备(MREDs)对环境的潜在影响。它解决了NERC、DEFRA和UKERC在MREDs对水流条件、生境和生态相互作用的影响方面确定的明显知识空白。它将使用大量的水下和空中观测技术，从雷达到声纳和现场测量，将在两年内部署在英国各地的三个关键地点。这些测量将输入生态相互作用和栖息地偏好的模型，允许预测大型MRED阵列的多种影响。由于完全跨学科，该项目将在每个阶段吸引不同的学术受益者。仪器设计领域的研究人员(在实验室和海上)将受益于我们在建造不同系统并使其适应在极具挑战性的环境中在海底的长期部署方面的经验。这将通过精心规划的知识交流活动、公开发布我们的成果以及人员交流来实现。为复杂和动态的3-D结构的连续成像开辟的途径将对与生态系统和海洋结构相关的其他领域的研究人员有用，而且在医学4-D成像方面也是如此。

FLOWBEC aims at measuring FLOW, Water Column and Benthic ECology in 4 dimensions to assess the potential effects of Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MREDs) on the environment. It addresses clear knowledge gaps identified by NERC, DEFRA and UKERC in the effects of MREDs on flow conditions, habitats and ecological interactions. It will use a wealth of observation techniques above and under water, ranging from radar to sonar and in situ measurements, to be deployed over 2 years at 3 key sites around the UK. These measurements will feed into models of ecological interactions and habitat preferences, allowing predictions of the multiple effects of large MRED arrays.Being fully cross-disciplinary, this project will engage different academic beneficiaries at each stage. Researchers in the field of instrument design (in the laboratory and at sea) will benefit from our experience in building the different systems and adapting them to long-term deployments on the seabed, in extremely challenging environments. This will be done by carefully planned Knowledge Exchange activities and open-access publication of our results, as well as exchange of personnel. The avenues opened for continuous imaging of complex and dynamic 3-D structures will be useful to researchers in other fields associated with ecological systems and marine structures, but also in medical 4-D imaging.