MANATEE Project: Monitoring and Mapping of Marine Habitat with Integrated Geomatics Technologies

Italian seas are home to a unique heritage of biodiversity in terms of species and habitats and are protected by EU conventions and directives. To preserve this richness effectively, monitoring activities are key to assess its state of health and evolution, and to enhance our current knowledge of natural processes and stress factors. Where this heritage is compromised, restoration projects can be undertaken, operations requiring the application of technical and scientific methods to ensure robust, reliable and cost-effective data collection. The ensemble of Geomatics techniques can provide valuable support for marine habitat monitoring, in the form of: localization, navigation and mapping of the site of interest following autonomous or guided approaches; generation of digital twins (3D models) of the habitat at the required resolution and accuracy; extraction from the digital twins of statistically significant metrics to assess the time evolution; presentation and sharing of the results with both the scientific community and the general public to promote awareness of environmental protection issues. MANATEE (Monitoring and mApping of mariNe hAbitat with inTegrated gEomatics technologiEs) project is providing these monitoring solutions via the integration of underwater photogrammetry with auxiliary positioning and navigation techniques based on acoustic, pressure and inertial sensors. The developed approaches is implemented in three complementary underwater vehicles, differing in cost, weight and portability, number and grade of navigation, positioning and 3D modelling sensors, and designed to cover habitats different for extension and depth. An observation class UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle), a low-cost micro ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), and a 3D surveying and modelling device for scuba divers will be tested in a real-world experiment focusing on the restoration of a crustose coralline algae, Lithophyllum stictiforme.