KIMERA
Artificial Intelligence for Seabed Mapping and Marine Spatial Planning
Timeframe: September 1, 2023 - August 31, 2026
Funding: €683,000
Over the next three years, the KIMERA project will develop an AI to create predictive maps for spatial planning in the deep sea. These maps will provide a data-supported and knowledge-based basis for the urgently needed designation of marine protected areas and potential areas of use. Under the leadership of the GEOMAR – Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research Kiel, north.io GmbH will help with data collection and handling, as well as the training and verification of AI algorithms. In the final step, the trained AI models will be integrated into TrueOcean and made available.
The KIMERA project integrates research findings with seafloor data to create predictive maps, supporting the designation of marine protected and use areas. This initiative addresses biodiversity impacts from activities like fishing and mining, driven by the demand for critical metals. Led by GEOMAR and north.io, the project supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 by ensuring the long-term productivity and protection of marine ecosystems. The final AI models will be integrated into TrueOcean for practical application.
Marine spatial planning, including designated utilization and protection areas, must be established to guarantee the protection of the ocean while at the same time exploiting it economically. Though essential, marine spatial planning is faced with the sparse data basis of a largely unexplored deep sea.
North.io is therefore developing a software tool to transfer the selectively available research findings to the deep sea in a targeted manner. The tool will link research findings and expert knowledge with available seafloor data, thus enabling the training of an artificial intelligence (AI) that is to be developed as part of the KIMERA project ("Artificial intelligence for mapping the seabed and marine spatial planning").
This way, the KIMERA project is also working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 “Life below water”, which aims to secure the long-term productivity of the ocean and protect marine ecosystems and their important climate functions. Negative impacts on biodiversity and underwater habitats due to the economic use of the ocean, e.g. through fishing, sand extraction or tourism, are already measurable today. Effective spatial planning is becoming increasingly urgent against the backdrop of another potential industry, deep-sea mining. The need for deep-sea mining is driven by the ever-increasing demand for critical metals such as copper, cobalt and nickel. However, possible relevant sources of raw materials in iron manganese nodules and so-called "polymetallic massive sulphides" are hosted in the deep sea, which has been largely untouched and little explored, so far.
The KIMERA project is funded by the Staatskanzlei Schleswig-Holstein.
