Seascapes Visual Resource Assessment - Sea Surface Visibility from Land

Visual Resource Mapping was carried for the Seascapes Character Assessment (2020) project to produce this dataset Sea Surface Visibility from Land (SSVL). Sea Surface Visibility from Land (SSVL) data considers sea surface locations (500 m grid cell size) and how frequent sea surface locations are visible from land. A grid of observation points at 500 m intervals placed on land, extending 20 km inland from the coastline, are used to represent theoretical viewers who can visually observe the sea. Height elevation of observation points is based on Copernicus EU-DEM v1.1 data, to which an observer viewing height value of 2 m (i.e. height of a 2 m tall human) is added, such that each observation point is calculated at HEIGHT ELEVATION + 2 METRES. A maximum viewing distance of 35 km is used. The visibility analysis assigns each offshore raster grid cell a value corresponding to the number (count) of observation points on land that each cell in the sea can ‘see’. Grid cells in the sea area (coastline to 35 km offshore) with high values can see and be seen by many observation points on land (2 m tall viewers) and are therefore more ‘visible’ to viewers on land. Visual Resource Mapping conducted using methodology outlined in National Seascape Assessment for Wales LUC Report (Natural Resources Wales 2015) and Seascape Assessment for the South Marine Plan Areas (MMO 2014). Regional Seascapes Character Assessment (2020) project was carried out by Minogue and Associates on behalf of the Marine Institute.