The Challenges of Multibeam Sonar Water Column Data: Acquisition,

Processing, and Sharing

Lindsay Gee - QPS, Inc.

GardnerMallace & Dillon-Leetch

Data fusion of current modalities is mature…

…but what is happening in the water column?

Background: Multibeam Sonars and the Water Column

- 1997: Simrad SM2000

- 2002: 3D Visualization

Background: MBES WC – Beyond Fisheries

- 2003: Imaging bubble populations (Weber et al.)

- 2003: Suspended particulate density (Jones)

- 2003: Military mid-water targets (Gallaudet and deMoustier)

- 2006: Hydrographic survey applications, least depth detection (Hughes Clarke)

- 2011: Oil detection (Weber et al.)

Mature acquisition 2D visualization capabilities.

Looking at the Water Column

Full MBES acquisition

FMMidwater Background

GOAL: Provide easy to use tool to actually USE water column data, across MANY applications

Challenges:

• Huge data volumes – bathy to backscatter to water-column

• Most of the time there isn’t much to see

• Proliferation of sonar formats

• Geospatial and temporal data

• Variety of applications and requirements

Requirements included:

• Simple/fast mid-water feature extraction

• Unification of a mid-water format - GWC

• Ability to manage/view files in non-linear

time

• Multiple metaphor - 4D visualization

• Application specific analysis tools - plugin

Water Column Tool: FMMidwater

FMMidwater

FMMidwater

Fan Curtain

Points

ASCII

Refracted

Points

ASCII

Applications

Hard Targets

• Hydrographic

• Engineering

Soft Targets

• Fisheries

• Oceanography

• Geophysics/Geology

System Performance

UK Civil Hydrography Programme Trial

Compare least depth over wrecks from:– Wire Sweep– MBES conventional bottom detect– Side Scan Sonar– MBES Water Column Data

MBES:

– Kongsberg EM 3002D

– Kongsberg EM 710

– Reson SeaBat 7125

UK CHP Trial

Gulf of Mexico – Clearance Survey

Gulf of Mexico – Clearance Survey

Gulf of Mexico – Clearance Survey

Shallow Survey 2012

NW Rota-1 Volcano (US Naval Oceanographic Office)

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Applications for Water Column Data

• Detection and mapping of gas seeps

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110915_okeanosexplorer.html

MBES Acoustic Observations

Tom Weber CCOM UNH

Engineering Inspection - Diffusers

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Water column data and products

• What do we need to provide from FMMidwater?

– Just the data?

–What products?

–Different for each application areas?

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NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program – EM302 Mapping Data Products

• All data available publicly

• Mapping data productso Serves multiple stakeholders

o Easily viewable with out proprietary software

o Long term archival at National archival center (NGDC)

o Available near real-time

• Raw data and bathymetry and backscatter okay, but water column backscatter not fully developed

Meme LobeckerNOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

Possible water column products– Linking to images of Volumetric, curtains and fan objects

– Geo-referenced videos

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Meme LobeckerNOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

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2012 WCB data productsPrototype product for water column targets

Meme LobeckerNOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

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2012 WCB data productsPrototype Geo-tagged video as an archival product useable for post-cruise identification of water column targets.

Meme LobeckerNOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

NGDC Water Column Sonar DataNOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Cruise EX1402

NGDC Water Column Sonar DataNOAA Ship Pisces Cruise PC1106

National Geophysical Data Center (2014): Water Column Sonar Data Collection. National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA. doi: 10.7289/V5HT2M7C [November2, 2014].

Water column data products

• Multiple potential users

• Providing content for better raw data discovery

• Limited overhead - data (%) and providers (time)

• Using existing modalities

– Images (fan, stack, beam)

– Movie (fan and stack)

• Automatic project level archive and packaging

• Processing products – depends on user

Acknowledgements

Meme Lobecker - NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

Carrie Wall Bell and Chuck Anderson -NOAA/NGDC/Marine Geology and Geophysics Division and CIRES

Tom Weber - CCOM/JHC UNH

Tom Reis - Substructure

Chris Hancock - Kongsberg Maritime

Thank You – Questions?