Sligo Bay
Cuan Sligeach

• Overview
• INFOMAR Survey History
• Shaded Relief
• Backscatter
• LiDAR & Google Earth
• Ground Truthing
• Seabed Classification
• Data Access

Overview

Sligo Bay is situated in Co. Sligo in the northwest of Ireland. Sligo Bay can be defined as an area east of a line made by the headlands at Aughris Head and Raghly Point. The distance between these two features is around 9 kilometres. Inside of these headlands are three smaller bays. These are Ballysadare Bay, Sligo Harbour and Drumcliff Bay. Two of these smaller bays, Ballysadare and Drumcliff, are partially separated from the outer bay by spit features with large areas of tidal flats that are exposed at low tide. Coney Island, Manguin’s Island and Oyster Island lie between Sligo Harbour and the outer bay. These intertidal areas are ideal habitats for shellfish whose abundance have supported humans inhabitation in the area since the Stone Age, evidenced by the large midden mounds which are found at various sites along the coast. These shells give Sligo its Irish name of Sligeach meaning ‘the place of shells’. INFOMAR surveys have also mapped the approaches to Sligo Bay.

Location of Sligo Bay in northwest Ireland.

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INFOMAR Survey History

Coverage from survey legs of Sligo Bay.(Click image for more detailed map)

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Shaded Relief

MBES shaded relief overview image of the area mapped in Sligo Bay and approaches. (Click image for more detailed map)

Detailed MBES shaded relief image of rock outcrops on the seabed offshore of Raghly Point, Co. Sligo. (Click image for more detailed map)

Detailed MBES shaded relief image of rock outcrops and sediment scour marks on the seabed offshore of Aughris Head, Co. Sligo. (Click image for more detailed map)

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Backscatter

MBES backscatter image of the same area seen in shaded relief (above) off Raghly Point, Co. Sligo where varying the various shaded of grey represent the intensity of sound reflected from the seabed recorded by the multibeam sensors depending on hardness and other physical characteristics. The dark areas are rock outcrops and coarse sediments with fine sediments represented by light grey. (Click image for more detailed map)

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Seabed Classification

The classification of the multibeam dataset from Sligo and Donegal Bays resulted in the creation of a 6 class classification divided into two types of rock, reflecting the different textures observed from rock outcrops in the bay. Three more classes divided the sediments into Fine Sand to Mud, sand and a sand veneer over rock. The final class displays areas of soft ground but showing high backscatter, possibly driven by biogenic content.

Seabed Classification Chart for Sligo and Donegal Bays (Click image for more detailed map).

Download a more detailed chart of the seabed classification of Sligo and Donegal Bays here

Further information about the classification process can be found in the Data Processing section.

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LiDAR

LiDAR coverage in inner Sligo Bay from 2008 Tenix LADS survey. Interesting aspects include the sinuous tidal channels running through Ballysadare Bay in the south and also the navigation channel out of Sligo Harbour.

To view and navigate around the Lidar Sligo Bay dataset in Google Earth, click here

To view and navigate around the merged Donegal & Sligo Bay datasets in Google Earth, click here

To view additional datasets in Google Earth please click here

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Ground Truthing

A range of seabed sampling has been undertaken in Galway Bay, both historically and under the INFOMAR project. These include grab samples, vibrocores and video footage. The locations of the grab samples have been mainly determined by the seabed classification made from the multibeam data.

Complete map of sampling locations of the northwest coast of Ireland including Sligo Bay and Approaches with a variety of sampling instruments. (Click image for more detailed map)

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Data Access

Full details outlining the process to gain access to datasets for the bay above or all INFOMAR data can be found in the INFOMAR | Data page of this website.

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