Doris reveals Dorset’s seabed
The Dorset coast mapped so far
A MAP of Dorset’s seabed from Abbotsbury to Swanage is now on Google Earth.
The DORset Integrated Seabed map – known for short as DORIS – shows the sea floor in enormous detail.
Lulworth Banks sponges & bryozoans: Peter Tinsley - Dorset Seasearch
Reefs and wrecks, rocky ledges and wildlife hotspots can all be studied through images and links and lists.
Never before in Britain has such an advanced map been made feely available.
DORIS began with an acoustic survey, plotting the exact contours of the seabed. Later stages involved hundreds of dives and thousands of photographs to find out more about different habitats.
It’s hoped over the next two years to cover all of the Dorset coast.
Work’s been done so far by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Channel Coastal Observatory. The Viridor Credits Environmental Company gave £300,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund.
This map of Portland and The Shambles was produced - like the one at the top of this page - using data from DORIS, a collaborative project involving Dorset Wildlife Trust, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Channel Coastal Observatory and Royal Navy, with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company. Other partners include Natural England, Dorset Strategic Partnership, University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre.
Peter Tinsley, marine conservation officer at Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: “This map marks a huge step forwards for the marine environment. Already it has enabled us to find important wildlife hotspots and we want to continue pushing back the boundaries of knowledge about a part of the county that still holds many mysteries.”
Dorset Coast Forum’s C-SCOPE project will use DORIS to create a marine plan for Dorset, and it’s an incomparable resource for divers.
A Dorset Seasearch volunteer diver (Dorset Seasearch)
Mr Tinsley said: “Recreational divers can now choose an interesting or unexplored spot from the map, take the GPS co-ordinates and head straight to it.
“We are particularly keen for volunteer divers to help us to continue the surveying so that we can fill in more habitat information.”
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is going to use the map to update navigation charts, and the Channel Coastal Observatory will provide information to coastal engineers.
Lisa Nelson, general manager of Viridor Credits, said: “We are delighted to have been able to support such an interesting and unusual biodiversity project. There is still so much to learn about the seabed and the marine environment. I know that the DORIS map will make a huge difference to everyone from scientists to leisure divers and be quite fascinating for older children.”
You can see the DORIS map in Google Earth at http://tinyurl.com/dorismap with linked photos appearing as you zoom in.
NB: You need to have Google Earth dowloaded on to your computer, from http://earth.google.com/intl/en/download-earth.html
Divers interested in helping to record Dorset’s underwater wildlife should contact Dorset Wildlife Trust on 01305 264620 or see http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk
Editor’s Note: I love the fact the map is called DORIS. I remember the painter John Skinner – who was obsessed with the Dorset coast – once remarking: “A man came up to me in the street in Bridport and said ‘Did you know that Doris was the mother of the Nereids?'”
Nereids being sea nymphs…
John Skinner lived in Bothenhampton, and had a studio in Abbotsbury. He moved to Dorset so that he could paint the sea. I seem to remember that for a while he was anxious about swimming in it, off Chesil Beach, because the currents might pull him under, but his fearfulness was eased by the Wytherstone art collector Sir Michael Culme-Seymour suggesting to him that the tugs he felt were simply Nereids wanting to play.
And to think that Doris is generally regarded as an un-artistic name!
4 Responses to “Doris reveals Dorset’s seabed”
Daughters greatly beautiful
“To Nereus and to Doris . . . there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses: Ploto and Eukrante and Amphitrite and Sao, Eudora and Thetis, and Galene and Glauke, Kymothoe and Speio, and Thoe and lovely Halia, Pasithea and Erato, Eunike of the rose arms, and graceful Melite and Eulimene and Agaue, Doto and Proto, Dynamene and Pherousa, Nesaie and Aktaie and Protomedeia, Doris and Panopeia, and Galateia the beautiful, Hippothoe the lovely and Hipponoe of the rose arms, Kymodoke who, with Kymatolege and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the waves and hushes the winds in their blowing. Kymo and Eione, Halimede of the bright garland, Glaukonome, the lover of laughter, and Pontoporeia, Leagore and Euagore and Laomedeia, Poulynoe and Autonoe and Lysianassa, Euarne of the lovely figure and face of perfection, Psamathe of the graceful form and shining Menippe, Neso and Eupompe, and Themisto and Pronoe, and Nemertes, whose mind is like that of her immortal father. These were the daughters born to irreproachable Nereus, fifty in all, and the actions they know are beyond reproach, also.” Hesiod
Full URL?
Anyone know the full Google Earth URL to view the DORIS map? Tinyurl links are barred here in Saudi Arabia.
Is
http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/c2/uploads/doris.kmz
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