Earth Observation Data for Seafloor Mapping: A Case Study of Croatia

Traditional bathymetric methods are acoustic-based systems or bathymetric LiDAR, which are able to meet the strictest survey orders for the safety of navigation defined by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). Although new platforms are operational (e.g. unmanned surface and aerial vehicles), traditional methods are time- and cost-consuming. With the new editions of the S-44 standards for hydrographic surveys, the IHO has acknowledged the use of bathymetric data for purposes beyond navigation safety, as new sensors (e.g., satellite-based) and sources (e.g., crowd-sourced bathymetry) have emerged. The concept of matrix parameters has been introduced to evaluate such datasets. According to the Croatian Marine Spatial Data Portal (GeoAdriatic) and the IHO, only part of Croatian navigable waters has been mapped with high accuracy and spatial resolution using traditional acoustic methods. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the use of satellite data for Earth Observation to overcome the gap in bathymetric data in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. The results of previous research in Croatian waters were analysed in compliance with the S-44 matrix framework.