EUSeaMap 2025 Broad-Scale Predictive Habitat Map for Europe - Seabed Substrate Type (Habitat Descriptor)

Classified seabed substrate types for European seas, produced by EMODnet Seabed Habitats as an input layer for the 2025 EUSeaMap broad-scale habitat model. It is based on a combination of EMODnet Geology seabed substrate products and biological substrates extracted from individual habitat maps from surveys around European seas. The seabed substrate is the result of combining multiple datasets at multiple scales into a single dataset containing the best scale available at each location. The extent of the mapped area includes the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and areas of the North Eastern Atlantic extending from the Canary Islands in the south to the Barents Sea in the north.

The layer of seabed substrate was produced using data from EMODnet Geology at the following scales:

• 1:1500, 1:5k, 1:10k, 1:15k, 1:20k, 1:25k, 1:30k, 1:45k, 1:50k, 1:60k, 1:70k, 1:100k, 1:250k, 1:1M.

Biological substrates were included in the 2025 version of EUSeaMap to assist in the classification of biogenic habitats for the 2019 version of EUNIS. The Folk 5 classification of substrate is adopted because it is compatible with both the 2007-11 and 2019 versions of EUNIS, both of which have been applied in EUSeaMap 2025.

An accompanying confidence layer is available for viewing and download from EMODnet Seabed Habitats - metadata is linked in the 'Composed of' section below.

A report on the methods used in the 2025 version of EUSeaMap will be published in due course and reports on previous versions (v2016, v2019, v2021, v2023) are linked in lineage.

Credit: Licensed under CC-BY 4.0 from the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) Seabed Habitats initiative (https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/seabed-habitats), funded by the European Commission.