Visualizing multi-hectare seafloor habitats with BioCam

Abstract

Range or resolution? We often get asked this question when mapping the seafloor. And it is important because the type of data we choose to collect fundamentally changes the science that can follow. Photos taken by camera-equipped autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) represent one extreme of the range/resolution trade-off, where sub-centimeter resolutions can be achieved, but typically only from close ranges of 2 m to 3 m. Taking images from higher altitudes increases the area mapped during visual surveys in two ways. First, a larger footprint can be observed in each image, and second, the lower risk of collision with rugged terrains when operating at higher altitudes allows use of flight-style AUVs (e.g., Autosub6000 shown in Figure 1), which are faster and more energy efficient than the hover-capable vehicles typically used for visual surveys. Combined, these factors permit several tens to more than a hundred hectares of the seafloor to be mapped in a single AUV deployment.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Adrian Bodenmann: orcid.org/0000-0002-3195-0602

ORCID for Takaki Yamada: orcid.org/0000-0002-5090-7239

ORCID for David Stanley: orcid.org/0000-0003-3699-3203

ORCID for Miguel Massot Campos: orcid.org/0000-0002-1202-0362

ORCID for Veerle Huvenne: orcid.org/0000-0001-7135-6360

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