Abyss soft - Deep sea mud bottom - ecosystem component from the WIO Symphony tool

A seafloor substrate model, developed by C. Jenkins with regional support from S. Fennessy, was applied, together with the dbSEABED database. Sand and mud proportion were combined to create a soft bottom proportion. Then soft bottoms were mapped within Abyssal plain depth zone (1000-7500 m) using gebco 2022 data. Known limitations: The underlying substrate and bathymetry models are uncertain in most areas of the WIO. Direct measurements (e.g. seabed surveys) are required to increase the quality.