Vocabulary
MIDA Coastal Erosion Thesaurus
| URI | http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/A04/current/ |
|---|---|
| Description | A collection of terms used by the Irish Marine Data Atlas in association with the topic of coastal erosion |
| Creator | Coastal and Marine resources Centre |
| Modified | 2012-06-28 |
| Version Info | 1 |
| Identifier | A04 |
| Register Manager | British Oceanographic Data Centre |
| Register Owner | Coastal and Marine resources Centre |
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| ID ↑ | Preferred Label ↑ | Definition ↑ | Date ↑ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Access | Presence of infrastructure designed to promote entering the coast or land from the sea and vice versa. | 2012-06-27 |
| Accretion | Accretion | The accumulation of (beach) sediment, deposited by natural fluid flow processes. | 2012-06-27 |
| AdministrativeBoundaries | Administrative Boundaries | An administrative boundary is a limit or border of a geographic area under the jurisdiction of some governmental or managerial entity. | 2012-06-27 |
| AerialImages | Aerial Images | Photographs of the ground surface taken from an aircraft,within the Earth's atmosphere. Also known as aerophotography. | 2012-06-27 |
| Agriculture | Agriculture | Landuse or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising & selling crops, and feeding, breeding, and raising livestock for incorporation into the populations food supply. | 2012-06-27 |
| Amplitude | Amplitude | Refers to the difference between the lowest level and highest level of tides, and the difference between the peaks and associated troughs of waves. | 2012-06-27 |
| AreaOfOutstandingNaturalBeauty | Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty | An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by Natural England on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on behalf of the Welsh Government; or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive. The primary purpose of the AONB designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape, with two secondary aims: meeting the need for quiet enjoyment of the countryside and having regard for the interests of those who live and work there. | 2012-06-27 |
| AreasOfSpecialScientificInterest | Areas of Special Scientific Interest | An Area of Special Scientific Interest or ASSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in Northern Ireland. ASSIs are the equivalent of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the rest of the United Kingdom. They are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Northern Ireland are based upon them, including National Nature Reserves, Ramsar Sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. | 2012-06-27 |
| AssetsAtRisk | Assets at Risk | Structures and features of economic or intrinsic value, which can potentially be lost due to coastal processes and activities. | 2012-06-27 |
| AverageWindSpeed | Average Wind Speed | The mean wind speed over a specified period of time. | 2012-06-27 |
| BathingWaterAreas | Bathing Water Areas | Inland or marine areas suitable for swimming and other activities which involve full-body contact exposure to the water and it's contents. | 2012-06-27 |
| BathingWaterQuality | Bathing Water Quality | Quality of designated bathing waters in terms of compliance with standards for microbiological parameters, physicochemical parameters (mineral oils, surface-active substances and phenols, etc.), etc. | 2012-06-27 |
| Bathymetry | Bathymetry | Seabed depth below the hydrographic datum. The word also describes the measurement and charting of spatial variations in such ocean depths. The name comes from Greek for "deep" (bathus) and "measure" (metron). | 2012-06-27 |
| BathymetryRaster | Bathymetry Raster | A raster-based dataset of seabed depth below the hydrographic datum. | 2012-06-27 |
| Bedrock | Bedrock | The solid unweathered rock that lies beneath the loose surface deposits of soil and alluvium in both marine and terrestrial areas of the Earth's surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| BiosphereReserves | Biosphere Reserves | Biosphere Reserves are areas designated under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme. The purpose of these areas is to study the balance of environmental conservation, economic development, and maintenance of cultural values. | 2012-06-27 |
| BirdLifeInternational | Bird Life International | BirdLife International is a global alliance of conservation organisations working together for the world's birds and people. | 2012-06-27 |
| BirdWatchIreland | BirdWatch Ireland | BirdWatch Ireland (BWI) is the current name of the organisation that used to be known as the Irish Wildbird Conservancy. BirdWatch Ireland is the leading voluntary conservation organisation in the Republic of Ireland, devoted to the conservation and protection of the Republic of Ireland's wild birds and their habitats. | 2012-06-27 |
| BlueFlagBeaches | Blue Flag Beaches | The blue flag is a global voluntary eco-label, awarded annually to beaches which have excellent water quality, environmental management, safety and a specific range of facilities for users. | 2012-06-27 |
| BuiltHeritage | Built Heritage | Built heritage is the unique and irreplaceable architecture with historic background that merits preservation for future generations. These can be individual old buildings of historic importance such as houses, churches, castles, military fortifications and other types of buildings, monuments or areas of built heritage value, e.g., town squares, harbours and churchyards. In broadest sense, built heritage does refer not only to ancient history, but also to modern period. | 2012-06-27 |
| BuiltUpAreas | Built-up Areas | An urban area (built-up area) is characterised by extensive man-made structures designed to accomodate, or serve higher density human populations in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may include cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets. Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanisation. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analysing population density and urban sprawl, and in determining urban and rural populations. | 2012-06-27 |
| Cliffs | Cliffs | A geological feature consisting of a steep steep, or overhanging face of rock or exposed subsoil. | 2012-06-27 |
| Climate | Climate | The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region. | 2012-06-27 |
| ClimatologicalStations | Climatological Stations | A climatological station is a weather recording facility, either on land or sea, equipped with instruments and devices for observing atmospheric conditions. These provide data and information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalDefenceStructures | Coastal Defence Structures | Man-made structures designed to reduce the effects of erosion and coastal flooding on coastal areas. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalErosion | Coastal Erosion | Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage (see also beach evolution). Waves, generated by storms, wind, or fast moving motor craft, cause coastal erosion, which may take the form of long-term losses of sediment and rocks, or merely the temporary redistribution of coastal sediments; erosion in one location may result in accretion nearby. The study of erosion and sediment redistribution is called 'coastal morphodynamics'. It may be caused by hydraulic action, abrasion, impact and corrosion. On non-rocky coasts, coastal erosion results in dramatic (or non-dramatic) rock formations in areas where the coastline contains rock layers or fracture zones with varying resistance to erosion. Softer areas become eroded much faster than harder ones, which typically result in landforms such as tunnels, bridges, columns, and pillars. Also abrasion commonly happens in areas where there are strong winds,loose sand,and soft rocks. The blowing of million of sharp sand grains creates a sandblasting effects.This effect helps to erode,smooth and polish rocks.The definition of abrasion is grinding and wearing away of rock surfaces through the mechanical action of other rock or sand particles. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalGeology | Coastal Geology | The nature of physical land-forms, structures, rocks, and sediments with particular emphasis on the coastal zone. The term can also be used to describe the scientific study of such features in the coastal zone. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalGeomorphology | Coastal Geomorphology | A description and/or classification of the coast's topographic features. Coastal Geomorphology also refers to the scientific discipline which describes and classifies coastal topography. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalImages | Coastal Images | Images of the coast. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalLagoons | Coastal Lagoons | Areas of relatively shallow, quiet water with access to the sea but separated from it by sandbars, barrier islands, or coral reefs. Coastal lagoons have low to moderate tides and constitute about 13% of the world's coastline. Their water is colder than the sea in winter and warmer in summer. In warm regions, evaporation may more than balance any freshwater input and may result in hypersaline water and even the buildup of thick salt deposits. Coral-reef lagoons occur on marginal reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, but the most spectacular examples, some more than 30 mi (50 km) across, are associated with Pacific atolls. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalMonitoring | Coastal Monitoring | The process of repetatively sampling data or repetatively collecting information about an aspect of the coastal area, with the purpose of identifying fluctuations and/or deviations from the norm. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalProtection | Coastal Protection | Measures aimed at protecting the coast against coastline retreat, thus protecting housing, infrastructure, the coast and the hinterland from erosion often at the expense of losing the beach and the dynamic coastal landscape. Coastal protection measures often consist of the construction of hard structures such as revetments or groynes, but can also consist of less intensive measures such as the planting of Marram grass to aid stabilisation of coastal sand dune systems. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalStability | Coastal Stability | The relative ability of a coastline to retain its form and shape over time. | 2012-06-27 |
| CoastalTypology | Coastal Typology | The systematic classes, or types, of coastal features. Coastal typology also refers to the systematic classification or study of feature types. | 2012-06-27 |
| Coastline | Coastline | The boundary between sea and land. This provides us with an outline of a landmass, providing information pertaining to its shape and appearance. | 2012-06-27 |
| CommercialFerryPorts | Commercial Ferry Ports | Ports which facilitate predominantly commercial traffic (resource and goods transport) and potentially the transport of people, though to a much lesser degree. | 2012-06-27 |
| Conservation | Conservation | The prevention of waste, or loss of biological diversity and abundance. Marine conservation, also known as marine resources conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Marine conservation focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, and on restoring damaged marine ecosystems. Marine conservation also focuses on preserving vulnerable marine species. This is a relatively new discipline. Marine conservationists rely on a combination of scientific principles derived from marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries science, as well as on human factors such as demand for marine resources and marine law, economics and policy in order to determine how to best protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems. Marine conservation can be seen as subdiscipline of conservation biology. | 2012-06-27 |
| Demographics | Demographics | Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it. | 2012-06-27 |
| DeprivationIndices | Deprivation Indices | Summary measures of the inadequacies of available levels of resources at meeting the basic needs of local peoples/systems. | 2012-06-27 |
| DepthContours | Depth Contours | A line connecting points of equal depth below the hydrographic datum. | 2012-06-27 |
| DevelopmentRate | Development Rate | The increase over time in infrastructural, technological and societal advancement and progress. | 2012-06-27 |
| DigitalTerrainModel | Digital Terrain Model | A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) is a continuous representation of a ground surface landform that is commonly used to produce topographic maps. DTMs are created by integrating data obtained from a wide range of techniques including remote sensing and land surveying. | 2012-06-27 |
| DistrictElectoralDivisions | District Electoral Divisions | A district electoral division (often abbreviated as DED) is a former name given to a low-level territorial division in Ireland, wherein the population are eligible to vote on a representative for a particular seat in local, regional, and national elections. Also known as electoral divisions. In the Republic of Ireland, DEDs are the smallest legally defined administrative areas in the state for which small area population statistics (SAPS) are published from the Census. There are a total of 3,440 electoral divisions within the Republic of Ireland. | 2012-06-27 |
| ErosionRisk | Erosion Risk | The potential for negative erosive affects to impact on current coastal processes and activities. | 2012-06-27 |
| ErosionTrends | Erosion Trends | A characteristic of an area whereby there exists a general tendency for solid coastal features and areas to be worn away, or reshaped through the processes of hydraulic and climatic action. | 2012-06-27 |
| FloodRisk | Flood Risk | Susceptability to inundation by nearby rivers, lakes, and oceanic water bodies. | 2012-06-27 |
| Flooding | Flooding | The inundation of land that is normally dry through the overflowing of a body of water over the land (e.g. rivers and storm surges). | 2012-06-27 |
| Geology | Geology | Geology (from the Greek for "earth" and "study") is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates. In modern times, geology is commercially important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and for evaluating water resources; is publicly important for the prediction and understanding of natural hazards, the remediation of environmental problems, and for providing insights into past climate change; plays a role in geotechnical engineering; and is a major academic discipline. | 2012-06-27 |
| Heritage | Heritage | The evidence of the past, such as historical sites, buildings, and the unspoilt natural environment, considered collectively as the inheritance of present-day and future society. | 2012-06-27 |
| HighWatermarks | High Watermarks | The level reached by sea water at high spring tide. | 2012-06-27 |
| HistoricalCoastlines | Historical Coastlines | The position and form of the ocean-land boundary in the past. | 2012-06-27 |
| History | History | Refers to (i) recorded events in the past, or (ii) the past events which shaped a location/area/feature. | 2012-06-27 |
| Hydrology | Hydrology | The branch of science concerned with the properties of the earth's water and its movement over and through the Earth's surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| Imagery | Imagery | Collectively, the representations of objects reproduced electronically or by optical means on film, electronic display devices, or other media. | 2012-06-27 |
| Infrastructure | Infrastructure | The fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools. | 2012-06-27 |
| JettiesPiersQuays | Jetties Piers Quays | Man-made structures that project into a body of water to provide mooring locations for boats, provide a stable base for construction to extend over the water-body, or influence local currents, tides or wave dynamics to protect a harbour or shoreline from storms or coastal erosion. | 2012-06-27 |
| LANDSAT | LANDSAT | Sensors hosted onboard Landsat satellites provide repetitive coverage of continental Earth surfaces in the visible, near-infrared, short-wave, and thermal infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and is currently the longest running enterprise for acquiring satellite imagery of the Earth's surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| LIDAR | LIDAR | Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is an active remote sensing system that can be operated in either a profiling or scanning mode using pulses of light to illuminate the terrain. LiDAR data collection involves mounting an airborne laser scanning system onboard an aircraft along with a kinematic Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to locate an x and y position and an inertial navigation system to monitor the pitch and roll of the aircraft. By accurately measuring the round trip travel time of the laser pulse from the aircraft to the ground, a highly accurate spot elevation can be calculated. Depending upon the altitude and speed of the aircraft along with the laser repetition rate it is possible to obtain point densities that would likely take months to collect using traditional ground survey methods. | 2012-06-27 |
| LandCover | Land Cover | The observed biophysical cover of the earth's surface. It describes vegetative and and man-made features, and omits bare rock and water. In practice, these elements are often included under this term. | 2012-06-27 |
| LandCoverChange | Land Cover Change | The change in the observed vegetative and biophysical cover of the Earth's surface over time. | 2012-06-27 |
| LandTransport | Land Transport | Infrastructure to facilitate the movement of people, goods and resources over a land-mass. Such infrastructure includes rail, road and off-road transport networks. | 2012-06-27 |
| LandUse | Land Use | Land use refers to the nature of mankinds activities as they harness and exploit the benefits of land as a resource. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into environments such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as: the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it. | 2012-06-27 |
| Landscape | Landscape | An extensive area of land regarded as being visually distinct. | 2012-06-27 |
| LandscapeCharacterAreas | Landscape Character Areas | An area which exhibits a distinct, recognisable and consistent pattern of elements, be it natural (soil, landform) and/or human (for example settlement and development) in the landscape that makes one landscape different from another, rather than better or worse. | 2012-06-27 |
| LocalFerryPorts | Local Ferry Ports | Ports which cater for local to regional transport of resources, goods, and people. | 2012-06-27 |
| LowWatermarks | Low Watermarks | The level reached by seawater at low tide or by other stretches of water at their lowest spring-tide level. | 2012-06-27 |
| MODIS | MODIS | The Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra (EOS AM) Satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite. The instruments capture data in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 µm to 14.4 µm and at varying spatial resolutions (2 bands at 250 m, 5 bands at 500 m and 29 bands at 1 km). Together the instruments image the entire Earth every 1 to 2 days. They are designed to provide measurements in large-scale global dynamics including changes in Earth's cloud cover, radiation budget and processes occurring in the oceans, on land, and in the lower atmosphere. Three on-board calibrators (a solar diffuser combined with a solar diffuser stability monitor, a spectral radiometric calibration assembly, and a black body) provide in-flight calibration. MODIS has used the Marine Optical Buoy for vicarious calibration. | 2012-06-27 |
| Management | Management | The process of dealing with or controlling activities, processes, or activities. | 2012-06-27 |
| Marinas | Marinas | A marina (from Sp. or It. "marina", coast or shore) is a specially designed dock or basin with moorings and supplies for pleasure craft, yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters. In the United Kingdom the word marina is also used for inland wharves on rivers and canals that are used exclusively by non-industrial pleasure craft such as canal narrowboats. | 2012-06-27 |
| MarineNatureReserves | Marine Nature Reserves | An area of sea and seabed (which can include intertidal areas) designated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) for the purpose of conserving marine flora and fauna or geological or physiographic features of special interest and/or providing opportunities for study and research. The designation is officially awarded by the government to a marine reserve of national significance and can apply to both the sea and the seabed. | 2012-06-27 |
| MarineTransport | Marine Transport | The shipment of goods (cargo), resources, or people over sea and via other waterways. | 2012-06-27 |
| Moorings | Moorings | Stationary objects to which a boat or ship can tie-up to to remain relatively stationary (e.g. fixed structures such as piers, quays, marinas, or floating structures such as buoys and pontoons). | 2012-06-27 |
| NationalMonuments | National Monuments | A national monument is a natural landmark or a structure or site of historic interest set aside by a national government and maintained for public enjoyment or study. | 2012-06-27 |
| NationalMonumentsInStateCare | National Monuments in State Care | In Ireland, the term "national monument" as defined in Section 2 of the National Monuments Act (1930) means a monument "the preservation of which is a matter of national importance by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching thereto." National monuments in State care include those which are in the ownership or guardianship of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DEHLG). Other owners of national monuments are empowered under Section 5 of the National Monuments Act (1930) to appoint the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as guardian of such monuments. This means in effect that while the property of such a monument remains vested in the owner, its maintenance and upkeep are the responsibility of the State. Monuments which may be defined as national monuments are also in the ownership or guardianship of Local Authorities which have similar responsibilities under the National Monuments Acts (1930-2004) to DEHLG. These monuments are not included in the data sets presented here. | 2012-06-27 |
| NaturalCoastalFeatures | Natural Coastal Features | Features along the coastline whose form and composition has been determined by natural processes, and are not man-made in origin. | 2012-06-27 |
| NaturalProtectedAreas | Natural Protected Areas | Areas where legal protections are in place to facilitate the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. | 2012-06-27 |
| NatureReserves | Nature Reserves | A tract of land managed so as to preserve its flora, fauna, and physical features. | 2012-06-27 |
| NutrientSampleSites | Nutrient Sample Sites | Locations where sampling of chemical compounds which promote primary level productivity has been carried out. | 2012-06-27 |
| ObliqueImages | Oblique Images | Aerial photographs taken at an angle off nadir to the Earth's surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| OceanCharacteristics | Ocean Characteristics | Physical, Chemical, Biological, Economic or Social aspects of the ocean, such as sea temperature, salinity levels, species richness, fish stock value, recreation value etc. | 2012-06-27 |
| Oceanography | Oceanography | The scientific study and exploration of all aspects pertaining to the Earth's oceans and seas. | 2012-06-27 |
| PhysicalEnvironment | Physical Environment | The surrounding conditions within which a feature, area, or organism exists. Physical environment often refers to conditions such as temperature, exposure, moisture, precipitation, amongst many others. | 2012-06-27 |
| Population | Population | Data characterising the number of inhabitants of particular locality, village, town, area, region or country. | 2012-06-27 |
| PopulationDensity | Population Density | The number of people per unit area; for example, persons per square kilometre. | 2012-06-27 |
| Property | Property | Land / man-made structures that are deemed to be under the ownership of an individual/an organisation/the state. | 2012-06-27 |
| PropertyDemand | Property Demand | Willingness and ability to purchase property. | 2012-06-27 |
| ProtectedAreas | Protected Areas | Generally, protected areas are understood to be those in which human occupation or at least the exploitation of resources is limited. The definition that has been widely accepted across regional and global frameworks has been provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its categorisation guidelines for protected areas. The definition is as follows: "A clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values." There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international organisations involved. The term "protected area" also includes Marine Protected Areas, the boundaries of which will include some area of ocean. There are over 161,000 protected areas in the world (as of October 2010) with more added daily, representing between 10 and 15 percent of the world's land surface area. By contrast, only 1.17% of the world's oceans is included in the world's ~6,800 Marine Protected Areas. | 2012-06-27 |
| Railways | Railways | A railway is a permanent track composed of a line of parallel metal rails fixed to sleepers, for transport of passengers and goods in trains. | 2012-06-27 |
| Rainfall | Rainfall | The quantity of water, expressed as a depth (most commonly in inches or centimeters), precipitated as rain, snow, hail, or sleet in a specified area and time interval. | 2012-06-27 |
| RainfallDistribution | Rainfall Distribution | Manner in which the depth of rainfall varies in both space and time. | 2012-06-27 |
| RainfallStations | Rainfall Stations | Climatic monitoring locations where regular measurements and recordings of precipitation are made. | 2012-06-27 |
| RamsarSites | Ramsar Sites | Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance, designated under the Ramsar Convention. Wetlands are defined as areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres. Ramsar sites may also incorporate riparian (banks of a stream, river, pond or watercourse) and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands. Ramsar sites are identified under the Commonwealth's Environmental Protection Biodiversity Act as having national environmental significance for which the Commonwealth has a significant responsibility to sustain and protect. | 2012-06-27 |
| Recreation | Recreation | Recreation is any activity performed during one's leisure or free time. Recreational activities are often done for amusement, enjoyment or pleasure . Almost any activity can be considered recreational when voluntarily engaged in during one's free time. | 2012-06-27 |
| Reserves | Reserves | Tracts of land set aside for the protection and conservation of species, biodiversity, and ecosystems. | 2012-06-27 |
| Rivers | Rivers | Large natural surface streams of water flowing in a channel over land to the sea, a lake, or into another such stream. | 2012-06-27 |
| Roads | Roads | Hard-surface infrastructure designed to provide routes for transport by vehicles such as cars, vans, trucks and lorries. | 2012-06-27 |
| SPOT | SPOT | SPOT (Système Pour l'Observation de la Terre ) (lit. "System for Earth Observation") is a high-resolution, optical imaging Earth observation satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales - the French space agency) in the 1970s and was developed in association with the SSTC (Belgian scientific, technical and cultural services) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). It has been designed to improve the knowledge and management of the Earth by exploring the Earth's resources, detecting and forecasting phenomena involving climatology and oceanography, and monitoring human activities and natural phenomena. The SPOT system includes a series of satellites and ground control resources for satellite control and programming, image production, and distribution. The satellites were launched with the ESA rocket launcher Ariane 2, 3, and 4. | 2012-06-27 |
| Saltmarshes | Saltmarshes | Marshes in which the water is saline. These particularly occur in coastal wetlands, which have halophyte vegetation and are regularly flooded at high tide. Coastal salt marshes help to preserve the shoreline by accommodating and dissipating the force and impact storm tides, surges, and swells. | 2012-06-27 |
| SatelliteImagery | Satellite Imagery | Raster (images composed of pixels) datasets which record the radiation reflected/emitted at different wavelengths from the Earth's surface and received by a sensor on a satellite platform. The different image datasets at each wavelength can be combined to give the familiar RGB (photolike) images we see of the Earth's surface from space, or can be used in other ways to study Earth processes. | 2012-06-27 |
| SeaLevelChange | Sea Level Change | The rise/fall in average tidal-gauge measured sea surface height over time. | 2012-06-27 |
| SeaLevelPosition | Sea Level Position | Averaged level of the sea surface, as derived from positionally accurate tide-gauge measurements, or more recently satellite-derived estimates of sea-surface height. | 2012-06-27 |
| SeaSurfaceTemperature | Sea Surface Temperature | The temperature of the ocean surface. The term sea surface temperature is generally meant to be representative of the upper millimeters of the ocean. | 2012-06-27 |
| Semi-NaturalHabitat | Semi-Natural Habitat | Semi-natural habitats are globally considered as any habitat where human induced changes can be detected or that is human managed but which still seems a natural habitat in terms of species diversity and species interrelation complexity. | 2012-06-27 |
| Shipping | Shipping | Water-borne transportation of resources, goods and people. Shipping can also refer to a number of ships utilising a route/corridor, particularly merchant ships, and is often expressed as a whole in terms of tonnage. | 2012-06-27 |
| ShippingPorts | Shipping Ports | Ports engaged in activities directly related to marine cargo loading and unloading, including ship docking and related facilities. | 2012-06-27 |
| Shipwrecks | Shipwrecks | A shipwreck refers to the physical remains of a ship that has either been sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical remnant of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English. | 2012-06-27 |
| SitesOfLocalNatureConservation | Sites of Local Nature Conservation | Areas (potentially of a small spatial extent) which have been designated as worthy of conservation protections due to their local-scale importance in terms of biodiversity and heritage. | 2012-06-27 |
| Socio-EconomicActivity | Socio-Economic Activity | Activities resulting from economic change due to societal fluctuations, or conversely activities resulting from societal change due to economic fluctuations. | 2012-06-27 |
| SoilTypes | Soil Types | A classification of soil into soil series, usually through sampling and analysis. | 2012-06-27 |
| Soils | Soils | The upper layer of the Earth's surface in which plants grow. This typically black or dark brown material, consists of varyiable mixtures of rock particles and fragments, clay, and organic remains and materials. Air spaces and water can often also be considered as constituents. | 2012-06-27 |
| SpecialAreasOfConservation | Special Areas of Conservation | A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They are to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the directive. They must be chosen from the Sites of Community Importance by the State Members and designated SAC by an act assuring the conservation measures of the natural habitat. | 2012-06-27 |
| SpecialProtectionAreas | Special Protection Areas | A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds. Together with Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000. | 2012-06-27 |
| StableLights | Stable Lights | Built-up and industrial areas, major roads and other infrastructure are illuminated at night. These lights can be detected by a special scanner on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) series of satellites. | 2012-06-27 |
| SurfaceGeology | Surface Geology | Geology of the characteristic of the material pertaining to, formed on, situated at, or occurring on the earth's surface, especially consisting of unconsolidated residual, alluvial, or glacial deposits lying on bed-rock. | 2012-06-27 |
| SwellGeneratedWaves | Swell Generated Waves | Swell waves are long waves or a succession of waves without crests, generated in the open sea by a meteorological event (e.g. gale) and often continue beyond their source. Swell patterns are superimposed on regular wave activity and can significantly increase wave height. | 2012-06-27 |
| SynopticStations | Synoptic Stations | Stations carrying out regular surface-weather observations on a 6-hourly or more frequent basis. Synoptic stations are usually located at airports and differ from climate stations in the greater number of variables observed and in the greater frequency of observations (climate stations usually make observations once or twice per day). | 2012-06-27 |
| TerrestrialGeology | Terrestrial Geology | The dynamics and physical history of landmasses, the rocks of which they are composed, and the physical, chemical, and biological changes that they have undergone or are undergoing. The term also refers to the study of such history and processes. | 2012-06-27 |
| TideGauges | Tide Gauges | A measuring instrument used to measure the level (and extremes) of tidal movement of sea levels at a point on the Earths surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| Topography | Topography | The relief features or surface configuration of an area. | 2012-06-27 |
| WaterBasedRecreation | Water Based Recreation | Those activities which require water for participation (such as boating, swimming, sailing and canoeing). | 2012-06-27 |
| WaterQuality | Water Quality | Can be defined as a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. Water quality refers to the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to health of ecosystems, safety of human contact and drinking water. | 2012-06-27 |
| WaveHeights | Wave Heights | In fluid dynamics, the wave height of a surface wave is the difference between the elevation of the wave crest and a neighbouring trough. | 2012-06-27 |
| WavesAndTides | Waves and Tides | Waves constitute a moving ridge or swell over the surface of the sea or a lake. Tides are the alternate rising and falling of the sea surface, caused by the gravitational forces acting on the Earth's fluid surface primarily by the Moon and the Sun. Tidal peaks usually occur twice in each lunar day at a particular location, though this may vary occasionally due to local conditions. | 2012-06-27 |
| Wind | Wind | Air in natural motion over the Earth's oceanic or terrestrial surface. | 2012-06-27 |
| WindGeneratedWaves | Wind Generated Waves | Surface waves that occur on the free surface of oceans and seas, resulting from the wind blowing over a vast enough stretch of fluid surface. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves range in size from small ripples to huge waves over 30 meters high. | 2012-06-27 |
| WorldHeritageSites | World Heritage Sites | Sites of great cultural significance and geographic areas of outstanding universal value. They include the Pyramids of Egypt, the Grand Canyon of United States, the Taj Mahal of India, the Great Wall of China, etc. | 2012-06-27 |
