As part of Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA1, sediment samples were collected at the request of the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) a survey programme was conducted from the NERC Royal Research Ship (RRS) Charles Darwin between July and September 2000, with samples for a number of chemical and biological analyses being collected. An Excel file containing details of heavy metal analysis is available.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). A review of the distribution and abundance of divers, grebes and seaduck in the SEA 5 area was carried out by Cork Ecology at the request of the Department of Trade and Industry as part of the production of the SEA 5 Consultation Document. The study area was defined as the east coast of Scotland from the English border north to John O'Groats, including Orkney and Shetland, and the offshore waters in the SEA 5 area. This review considered thirteen species: red-throated diver, black-throated diver, great northern diver, great crested grebe, red-necked grebe, slavonian grebe, scaup, eider, long-tailed duck, common scoter, velvet scoter, goldeneye and red-breasted merganser.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report reviews the many different sources of underwater noise, both natural and anthropogenic, that combine to provide the background noise levels in which marine organisms need to survive throughout the SEA6 region. The sources of sound combine together in a complex manner resulting in significant spatial and temporal variations in the noise field. A map of the dominant noise sources in the Irish Sea is shown, indicating that man-made noise is the dominant source of noise over about 70% of the area. Shipping noise is likely to be dominant across large parts of the SEA6 area. To fully characterise the ambient noise field in the SEA6 area would require multiple measurements at a large number of locations over a period of a year. However, a considerably lower cost approach would be to characterise each sound source and to use this with occurrence statistics for each source to model the ambient noise field across the region. The advantages and disadvantages of the acoustic modelling approach are discussed.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The report concentrates on reviewing existing data and published sources, rather than attempt a quantitative baseline of wrecks and casualties. There is a comprehensive corpus of legislation, plans and polices concerned with the protection of the submerged maritime archaeological resource within the SEA 7 study area. The study outlines the known history of maritime activity within the SEA 7 area. Despite being an extremely large body of water that at times can produce dangerous sea and weather conditions, and encompasses the rugged coastlines of western Scotland and Northern Ireland, the area has been used extensively by seafarers from at least the Mesolithic (from 9000 BC) up to present times. During each time period there has been evidence of human activity within the SEA 7 area, often demonstrated by the discovery of maritime archaeological remains. The waters between the north east of Ireland and Scotland have been used as a means of communication throughout the centuries. Previous investigations of maritime archaeological remains within the SEA 7 area are discussed in the report. The spatial distribution of submerged archaeological remains is discussed, and comments are made on the limitations of any mapped baseline of data. The study concludes with a comment on the potential impacts of oil and gas activities on the submerged maritime archaeological resource and suggests possible monitoring methodologies.

This report on underwater noise is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report initially gives a general introduction to underwater ambient noise and the underlying mechanisms that generate sound. The report then identifies a number of sources of underwater acoustic noise, describes the characteristics of the noise including frequency content, levels and variability, and also identifies the current state of knowledge on each source. In all cases the sources are considered in the context of the SEA 7 area. Mechanisms that can modify the ambient sound levels are described. The dominant noise sources in the SEA 7 area are identified. Recommendations are then made for the methodology to be used to obtain meaningful characterisation of noise levels in order to establish baseline levels. The report then goes on to present an analysis of measured ambient noise data in the SEA 7 area, model predictions of spectrum levels, and compares the measured and modelled data.

Water quality modelled outputs for daily channel discharge and depth, nitrate-N, ammonium-N, suspended sediment concentration, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus for the Mekong River basin. Baseline models for P and N were calibrated over 1998 to 2017. Predictions spanning 2018 to 2098 were modelled based on eight scenarios (2 climate x 2 socioeconomic x 2 population). Please see Whitehead et al (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.315 for details. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/710fc65c-87eb-4932-9d8e-dc8328742232

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Occurrence of carbonate and other mounds in the SEA7 region of the Atlantic Margin. This report focuses on the distribution, classification and internal (seismic) structure of carbonate mounds to the west of Ireland and the UK within the SEA7 region and its general environs. It also provides an overview of the main results from ongoing research in EU 5th Framework projects such as GEOMOUND, ECOMOUND and ACES. Various models for the origin and growth of carbonate mounds have been proposed in the literature. These range from hydrocarbon seepage and nutrient models to oceanographic and current influences and are discussed. The report also provides a comprehensive bibliography of mound references, a map of mound locations and a compendium of relevant metadata from the region.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA2 a survey was undertaken in May/June 2001 for areas in the central and southern North Sea. This report summarises the sediment trace and heavy metal data generated from the analyses of selected samples from the three main study areas: the major sandbanks off the coast of Norfolk and Lincolnshire in the southern North Sea (SNS); the Dogger Bank in the SNS; and the pockmarks in the Fladen Ground vicinity of the central North Sea.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA3) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) and is an addendum to "SEA2 Technical report 008 - North Sea Geology, covering subsurface geology, sea-bed sediments, sediment mobility and seismicity." by same authors. The geology of the North Sea from the Palaeozoic era to the present day is reviewed, with reference to petroleum geology. Geological factors affect the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploitation in many different ways. For example, in the case of the Ekofisk oilfield in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, oil production led to seafloor subsidence of a few metres due to its chalk reservoir, but production-related subsidence on this scale is atypical. The evolution of the geomorphology and composition of the shallow and seabed sediments is discussed. The distribution of mud, sand, gravel and hard substrates influence the nature of the benthos and can affect the way in which contaminants are accumulated and transported. Shallow seabed sediments support the foundations of structures ranging from platforms to pipelines. Hydrogeological conditions and the risk of pollution to aquifers are also reviewed.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report summarises the geological history of the SEA4 area from Pre-Cambrian times to the present day, sets the framework in which oil and gas fields have been discovered to the west of Shetland, and discusses the seismicity of the area. A generalised geological map of the area is presented and three approximately NW-SE trending sections across the southern part of the SEA4 area are shown. The petroleum geology of the area is reviewed and the geological settings in which oil has been found at the Clair, Foinaven, Schiehallion and Loyal oilfields is described. Other hydrocarbon fields to the west of Shetland, for which there are no immediate development plans, are briefly touched on. The seismicity of the SEA4 area, which is very low, is discussed.