Seagrass Analysis Ready data (NCEA)

Published by:
Environment Agency
Last updated:
24 April 2026
Topic:
Not added
Licence:
Other Licence
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Summary

The Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Seagrass Network contributes to a clearer picture of estuarine and coastal health across England by monitoring a wide range of parameters, supporting long-term measurement and establishment of a more complete national asset inventory of seagrass. The NCEA Seagrass Network Analysis Ready dataset consists of the Seagrass Bed Location Layer (points) and Seagrass Bed Extent Layer (polygon) data to show the location of seagrass bed presence detected from Environment Agency surveys undertaken between 2007 and 2024. It includes intertidal beds surveyed since 2007 and subtidal beds surveyed since 2016. The point locations were calculated by using the centre point of each bed from the most recent survey at each of those beds. Seagrass presence and locations were identified using multiple survey methods. Intertidal beds were surveyed using a mix of walkover surveys and aerial mapping, with drone and airplane imagery. Subtidal beds were surveyed using a mix of drop-down camera and echosounder methods, with new NCEA data collected from 2023 onwards.

The NCEA Seagrass Network is a project supported by the UK Government through Defra's NCEA programme. The NCEA is Defra's largest research and development (R&D) programme. It will produce a baseline of our natural assets by 2029; enabling a natural capital approach to policy and decision-making.

Users should ensure they have read the NCEA Analysis Ready Data Limitations Statement and dataset specific limitations/ caveats outlined in the Data Dictionary. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved.

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Data links

Link to the data Format File added Data preview
NCEA Analysis Ready Data Limitations Statement N/A 24 April 2026 Not available
OGC API - Features service N/A 24 April 2026 Not available
SeagrassBedExtent_WFS N/A 24 April 2026 Not available
SeagrassBedExtent_WMS N/A 24 April 2026 Not available
SeagrassBedExtent_Download N/A 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA_Seagrass_Network_Analysis_Ready_data.shp.zip ZIP 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA_Seagrass_Network_Analysis_Ready_data.gpkg.zip ZIP 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA_Seagrass_Network_Analysis_Ready_data.geojson.zip ZIP 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA_Seagrass_Network_Analysis_Ready_data.gdb.zip ZIP 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA Seagrass Network Methods Summary.pdf PDF 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA Seagrass Network ARD Open - Data Dictionary.ods ODS 24 April 2026 Not available
NCEA Monitoring Seagrass Framework Report.pdf PDF 24 April 2026 Not available
LIT 11560 - Intertidal seagrass monitoring for Water Framework Directive (WFD) purposes_redacted.pdf PDF 24 April 2026 Not available
EA Subtidal Seagrass Image Analysis Guidance v4.2 - EXTERNAL.pdf PDF 24 April 2026 Not available
EA Subtidal Seagrass Drop Camera Survey Method - EXTERNAL.pdf PDF 24 April 2026 Not available

Additional information

View additional metadata
Added to data.gov.uk
2026-04-23
Access contraints
There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.
Harvest GUID
024e09fb-b364-4864-ac0d-3ac135b21bb5
Extent
Latitude: 55.816° to °
Longitude: -6.236° to 2.072°
Spatial reference system
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700
Dataset reference date
2026-03-31 (creation)
2026-04-15 (publication)
2026-04-09 (revision)
Frequency of update
annually
Responsible party
Environment Agency (pointOfContact)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng
Source Metadata
XML
HTML

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Open Government Licence