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Characterization of the seafloor in Australia's coastal zone using acoustic techniques

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Authors
Gavrilov, Alexander
Duncan, Alexander
McCauley, Robert
Parnum, Iain
Penrose, John
Siwabessy, Paulus
Woods, Andrew J.
Tseng, Yao-Teng
Date
2005
Type
Conference Paper

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Citation
Gavrilov, N. and Duncan, A.J. and McCauley, R.D. and Parnum, I.M. and Penrose, J.D. and Siwabessy, P.J.W. and Woods, A.J. and Tseng, Y. 2005. Characterization of the seafloor in Australia's coastal zone using acoustic techniques, in Papadakis, J.S. and Bjorno, L. (ed), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies and Results, Jun 28-Jul 1 2005, pp. 1075-1080. Heraklion, Greece: Foundation for Research and Technology.
Source Title
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies & Results
Source Conference
Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies & Results
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Faculty
Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST)
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School
Centre for Marine Science & Technology (COE)
URI
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Abstract

Australia's coastal shelf contains a diversity of marine habitats that require regular assessment in a cost-effective way. As part of the Coastal Water Habitat Mapping (CWHM) project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management (Coastal CRC), several shallow water regions along the western, southern and eastern Australian coasts have been surveyed using multi and single beam echo sounders. Acoustic observations were ground-truthed with stereo photography, video recordings and grab and core samplings. A 450-kHz Reson SeaBat 8125 multibeam echo sounder was employed to obtain high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic backscatter maps of the seafloor. A new approach to deriving backscatter imagery of the seafloor has been developed for high-frequency multibeam systems. Robustness of different backscatter characteristics with respect to recognition of different habitats and seafloor vegetation was examined. The results of acoustic recognition and localization of marine vegetation on the seafloor are in agreement with video observations.