Marine Science Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Keywords
multibeam echosounder, backscatter, polymetallic nodules, benthic habitat mapping, angular response
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12122322
Abstract
We show that analyzing archived and future multibeam backscatter and bathymetry data, in tandem with regional environmental parameters, can help to identify polymetallic nodule fields in the world’s oceans. Extensive archived multibeam transit data through remote areas of the world’s oceans are available for data mining. New multibeam data will be made available through the Seabed 2030 Project. Uniformity of along- and across-track backscatter, backscatter intensity, angular response, water depth, nearby ground-truth data, local slope, sedimentation rate, and seafloor age provide thresholds for discriminating areas that are permissive to nodule presence. A case study of this methodology is presented, using archived multibeam data from a remote section of the South Pacific along the Foundation Seamounts between the Selkirk paleomicroplate and East Pacific Rise, that were collected during the 1997 Foundation–Hotline expedition on R/V Atalante. The 12 kHz Simrad EM12D multibeam data and the other forementioned data strongly suggest that a previously unknown nodule occurrence exists along the expedition transit. We also compare the utility of three different backscatter products to demonstrate that scans of printed backscatter maps can be a useful substitute for digital backscatter mosaics calculated using primary multibeam data files. We show that this expeditious analysis of legacy multibeam data could characterize benthic habitat types efficiently in remote deep-ocean areas, prior to more time-consuming and expensive video and sample acquisition surveys. Additionally, utilizing software other than specialty sonar processing programs during this research allows an exploration of how multibeam data products could be interrogated by a broader range of scientists and data users. Future mapping, video, and sampling cruises in this area would test our prediction and investigate how far it might extend to the north and south.
Rights Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, v. 12, issue 12, art. jmse12122322
Scholar Commons Citation
Mussett, Mark E.; Naar, David F.; Caress, David W.; Conrad, Tracey A.; Graham, Alastair G. C.; Kaufmann, Max; and Maia, Marcia, "Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences" (2024). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 2588.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2588
