Assessing the likely impact of sand wave clearance on near bed sediment transport through numerical modelling

Contribution to the evidence needed to proportionally assess applications for cable routing where sand wave clearance through active sand wave fields is proposed. There is a current lack of information and understanding on how the removal of sand waves impacts near bed sediment transport pathways; this leads to caution when this activity is proposed through or near a marine protected area. The aim is to use numerical models of hypothetical sand wave clearance scenarios to understand whether sand wave clearance is likely to affect near-bed sediment transport to the extent that it becomes an environmental risk to designated sedimentary habitats.