seascape

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Summer Squall, 1904. A seascape by Winslow Homer.

A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. By a backwards development, the word has also come to mean the view of the sea itself, and be applied in planning contexts to geographical locations possessing a good view of the sea.

Planning use

A seascape photograph at Clifton Beach, South Arm, Tasmania, Australia

In the UK a seascape is defined in planning and land use contexts as a combination of adjacent land, coastline and sea within an area, defined by a mix of land-sea inter-visibility and coastal landscape character assessment, with major headlands forming division points between one seascape area and the next. This approach to coastal landscape planning was developed jointly by Government environmental bodies in Wales (UK) and Ireland in 2000 to assist spatial planning for (at that time new) offshore wind farm developments. The resulting "Guide to best practice in seascape assessment", (Marine Institute, Ireland, 2001), have since been adapted and applied in Scotland (Scottish Natural Heritage, UK, 2004) and in England (Defra, 2005) and Wales (Countryside Council for Wales, 2007) for guidance to offshore wind farm developers and for carrying out spatial planning assessments.

The Welsh language already distinguishes between 'Morluniau' (seascape in the traditional sense of a picture, view or painting) and 'Morweddau' (seascape as a distinct, geographical area exhibiting particular characteristics and qualities). There is no such distinction in the English language.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seascape

• Landscape art
• Marine art