Imaging the Twilight Zone: the Morphology And
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IMAGING THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MORPHOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MESOPHOTIC ZONE FEATURES, A CASE STUDY FROM BONAIRE, DUTCH CARIBBEAN by Bryan Mark Keller A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Marine Studies Spring 2011 Copyright 2011 Bryan M. Keller All Rights Reserved IMAGING THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MORPHOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MESOPHOTIC ZONE FEATURES, A CASE STUDY FROM BONAIRE, DUTCH CARIBBEAN by Bryan Mark Keller Approved: _____________________________________________________ Arthur C. Trembanis, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: _____________________________________________________ Charles E. Epifanio, Ph.D. Director of the School of Marine Science and Policy Approved: _____________________________________________________ Nancy M. Targett, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment Approved: _____________________________________________________ Charles G. Riordan, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Art Trembanis, for his instruction and support throughout my thesis research. My gratitude is also extended to Dr. Douglas Miller and Dr. Mark Patterson for their assistance and guidance throughout the entirety of my research. Much thanks to the University of Delaware Office of Graduate and Professional Education, the Department of Oceanography, and the Department of Geology for the funding necessary for me to perform m fieldwork in Bonaire. Finally, I would like to thank my lab mates and colleagues for answering my countless questions and always being willing to provide insight about any problems that I faced. iii DEDICATION This manuscript is dedicated to Rachel Lyons who has known me through all of my struggles and always insisted that I chase my dreams. Her support is treasured, and enough thanks can never be given. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. viii ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 2 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 7 Study Area ....................................................................................... 7 Previous Work ............................................................................... 11 Bathymetric Mapping .................................................................... 14 Acoustic Seabed Classification ..................................................... 16 3 METHODS ................................................................................................ 18 Data Collection .............................................................................. 18 Data Processing ............................................................................. 23 Bathymetry ........................................................................ 26 Slope .................................................................................. 27 Rugosity ............................................................................. 30 Backscatter ........................................................................ 35 Classification ..................................................................... 37 Ground Truthing ................................................................ 47 4 RESULTS .................................................................................................. 56 Nukove .......................................................................................... 59 Marine Reserve .............................................................................. 66 Small Wall ..................................................................................... 74 Small Wall 2 .................................................................................. 81 Bari Reef ........................................................................................ 88 Pink Beach ..................................................................................... 95 Just a Nice Dive ........................................................................... 101 Southwest Corner ........................................................................ 109 5 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 126 v 6 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................... 133 Main Findings .............................................................................. 133 Future Work ................................................................................. 136 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 137 APPENDIX A – GAVIA AUV Mission Plots .................................................... 142 APPENDIX B – SonarWiz Target Reports ......................................................... 147 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Bonaire AUV Survey locations .......................................................... 20 Table 2 Ground truthing of classification data ................................................ 51 Table 3 Comparison of each classification to the Backscatter ....................... 54 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Map of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean ..................................................... 10 Figure 2 Bathymetry profile of Bonaire and surrounding waters ..................... 11 Figure 3 Modular assembly of Gavia AUV used for Bonaire surveys ............. 20 Figure 4 Gavia mission depicting AUV behavior ............................................ 21 Figure 5 Recorded malfunction of Underwater Video Camera ........................ 22 Figure 6 AUV data processing workflow diagram ........................................... 23 Figure 7 Geoswath GS+ data processing windows .......................................... 25 Figure 8 Fledermaus grid showing the data point density ................................ 27 Figure 9 Example of a square cell neighborhood ............................................. 28 Figure 10 Example of an area with a low slope angle ........................................ 29 Figure 11 Example of an area with a high slope angle ....................................... 30 Figure 12 Cell surface area calculation .............................................................. 31 Figure 13 Example of an area with a high rugosity value .................................. 33 Figure 14 Example of an area with a low rugosity value ................................... 34 Figure 15 QTC data processing workflow diagram ........................................... 37 Figure 16 Application of Swathview cleaning filters ......................................... 41 Figure 17 Results of Swathview despeckle filter ............................................... 41 Figure 18 Swathview generation of rectangles for feature classification ........... 42 Figure 19 QTC Automatic Cluster Engine (ACE) ............................................. 42 Figure 20 QTC Q-Space showing five unique classes ....................................... 43 viii Figure 21 Classification 1 of marine reserve backscatter data ........................... 45 Figure 22 Classification 2 of marine reserve backscatter data ........................... 46 Figure 23 QTC confidence percentage histograms ............................................ 47 Figure 24 Example of AUV image georeferencing ............................................ 48 Figure 25 Survey Location and Zone Map ......................................................... 55 Figure 26 Bathymetry and Class point Histograms (All Sites) .......................... 56 Figure 27 Rugosity and Slope point Histograms (All Sites) .............................. 57 Figure 28 Nukove bathymetry map and histogram ............................................ 58 Figure 29 Nukove rugosity map and histogram ................................................. 59 Figure 30 Nukove slope map and histogram ...................................................... 60 Figure 31 Nukove backscatter map .................................................................... 61 Figure 32 Nukove classification map and histogram.......................................... 62 Figure 33 Bathymetry profile of small sand channels ........................................ 64 Figure 34 Marine Reserve bathymetry map and histogram ................................ 65 Figure 35 Marine Reserve rugosity map and histogram ..................................... 66 Figure 36 Marine Reserve slope map and histogram ......................................... 67 Figure 37 Marine Reserve backscatter map ........................................................ 68 Figure 38 Marine Reserve classification map and histogram ............................. 69 Figure 39 Bathymetry profile showing a large mound of coral rubble ............. 72 Figure 40 Small Wall bathymetry map and histogram ....................................... 73 Figure 41 Small Wall rugosity map and histogram ...........................................