Pelagic Habitat Mapping

Pelagic habitat mapping characterizes the three-dimensional water-column environments that open-ocean species occupy, rather than the seabed habitats mapped in benthic work. It combines satellite fields of sea-surface temperature, sea-surface height, fronts, eddies, and chlorophyll with in-situ profiles of temperature, salinity, oxygen, and mixed-layer depth, plus hydroacoustic and tagging data. Because pelagic habitat is dynamic and shifts horizontally and vertically over time, the maps are often probabilistic species-distribution models keyed to oceanographic drivers. Fisheries and conservation managers use them to locate tuna and pelagic-predator hotspots and to define dynamic management areas that move with the ocean state.