🌊 Use Case #2 – How YUCO enabled high-resolution habitat mapping in Saint-Barthélemy 🗺️
👩🔬 Who are Jean-Baptiste Favier and Sébastien Cnudde?
Jean-Baptiste Favier and Sébastien Cnudde are marine ecology specialists working on coastal habitat assessment and environmental monitoring projects for the French oceanographic and environmental consulting company called @CREOCEAN.
They recently carried out a mission for the Environmental Territorial Agency of Saint-Barthélémy, aiming to refine the understanding of local marine habitats between 18 and 30 meters depth.
🌊 Their mission
The objective: map underwater biocenoses with high precision in order to identify sensitive ecological areas and improve current habitat models.
This work combines underwater imagery, habitat characterization, and validation of satellite-derived models.
⚙️ Before YUCO
Such missions required extensive diving operations and manual photographic transects.
➡️ Limited coverage, time-consuming logistics, and high dependency on weather and diver availability.
🤖 Since adopting the YUCO-SCAN AUV
The YUCO autonomous underwater vehicle allowed them to:
- run fully pre-programmed survey lines,
- collect high-resolution photographs and side-scan sonar imagery,
- gather over 7,300 geo-referenced photos in just one week,
- cover 105 km of linear distance,
- and extend exploration to areas that were previously difficult to access.
💡 The results speak for themselves:
📈 A consequent increase in survey coverage
🗺️ High-resolution, consistent, geo-referenced imagery
🚀 Faster, safer, and more efficient data acquisition
✅ Better validation of satellite-based habitat models
“Some areas were mapped for the very first time during this mission, revealing unexpected fish diversity and helping identify sensitive zones with strong ecological value.”
— Jean-Baptiste Favier, CREOCEAN
Thanks to Jean-Baptiste Favier and Sébastien Cnudde for sharing the details of their last campaign!
This project was carried out in close collaboration with Mouna Benlemrid from DeepBlue Technology, 🐬
📧 Are you working with AUVs or developing innovative ocean methods?
Share your story with us → https://seaber.fr/contact