Automatic Segmentation of Multi-Beam Data for Predictive Mapping of Benthic Habitats on the Chella Seamount (North-Eastern Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean)

Author

Coiras, Enrique ; Iacono, Claudio Lo ; Gràcia, Eulalia ; Dañobeitia, Juanjo ; Sanz, José Luis

Author_Institution

NATO Undersea Res. Centre (NURC), La Spezia, Italy

Volume

4

Issue

4

fYear

2011

Firstpage

809

Lastpage

813

Abstract

A reliable and objective classification method has been produced for the differentiation of benthic habitats in the seamount regions of the North-Eastern Alboran Sea. Acoustic backscatter and depth measurements from multi-beam data are automatically fused and then classified using video transects of known cold-water coral ecosystems as ground-truth. Results of the classification reveal the locations of potentially similar habitats in the region, and could be used as a base map for the planning of future scientific campaigns in the area.

Keywords

backscatter; geophysical image processing; image segmentation; oceanographic regions; Chella Seamount; North-Eastern Alboran Sea; Western Mediterranean; acoustic backscatter; automatic segmentation; benthic habitats; cold-water coral ecosystems; depth measurement; multibeam data; predictive mapping; video transects; Acoustic beams; Backscatter; Environmental factors; Sonar; Acoustic imaging; automatic classification; benthic habitats; data fusion; marine geology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1939-1404

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTARS.2011.2123874

Filename

5751202