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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Remote Sens.
Sec. Acoustic Remote Sensing
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsen.2025.1576192
This article is part of the Research Topic Multibeam Echosounder Backscatter: Advances and Applications View all 6 articles
Temporal Evolution of Anchor Tracks on a Silty Seafloor (Eckernförde Bay/Baltic Sea)
Provisionally accepted- Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (LG), Warnemünde, Germany
Anchoring activities exert significant physical pressure on seabed, altering benthic habitats through mechanical disturbances. The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive mandates the assessment of such anthropogenic impacts. Evaluating seabed integrity requires an understanding of both the spatial extent of disturbance and the rate of recovery. This study presents multibeam echosounder bathymetry and backscatter from a heavily impacted area in the Bay of Eckernförde, German Baltic Sea, a region with intensive tourist and naval shipping traffic. The data reveal a dense network of anchor tracks, characterized by elongated furrows flanked by mounds to both sides and extensive abrasion zones caused by the anchor chains. The profile of a fresh anchor track shows a depth of -0.3 m and a mound elevation of 0.2 m, both features diminishing by approximately half after one year. Its initial anchor impact crater reaches maximum depth of 0.7 m in the silty sediments. Seafloor disturbance extends approximately 3 m to both sides from anchor tracks, affecting approximately 20% of the surveyed area, excluding widespread abrasion zones. To analyze track degradation, a relative timeline was constructed using a topological sorting algorithm and compared with absolute dating based on AIS data. Results indicate slope measurements effectively capture anchor track degradation until morphological equilibrium is reached. Beyond this stage, tracks remain visible in backscatter data by increased intensity along former mounds. This suggests that anchor tracks have a more persistent impact on seabed integrity than bathymetric data indicate. The spatial extent and the long-lasting effect of the anchor tracks highlight the necessity for explicit spatial management strategies to mitigate cumulative impacts on seabed integrity.
Keywords: Baltic Sea, Multibeam echosounder, Backscatter, Seafloor integrity, Anthropogenic pressure, habitat
Received: 13 Feb 2025; Accepted: 01 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Schulze, Schönke, Feldens and Papenmeier. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Inken Schulze, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (LG), Warnemünde, Germany
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