Version 1
: Received: 29 October 2024 / Approved: 29 October 2024 / Online: 30 October 2024 (10:41:02 CET)
How to cite:
Mussett, M. E.; Naar, D. F.; Caress, D. W.; Conrad, T. A.; Graham, A. G.; Kaufmann, M.; Maia, A. M. Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences. Preprints2024, 2024102351. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2351.v1
Mussett, M. E.; Naar, D. F.; Caress, D. W.; Conrad, T. A.; Graham, A. G.; Kaufmann, M.; Maia, A. M. Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences. Preprints 2024, 2024102351. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2351.v1
Mussett, M. E.; Naar, D. F.; Caress, D. W.; Conrad, T. A.; Graham, A. G.; Kaufmann, M.; Maia, A. M. Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences. Preprints2024, 2024102351. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2351.v1
APA Style
Mussett, M. E., Naar, D. F., Caress, D. W., Conrad, T. A., Graham, A. G., Kaufmann, M., & Maia, A. M. (2024). Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2351.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Mussett, M. E., Max Kaufmann and and Marcia Maia. 2024 "Analyzing Archive Transit Multibeam Data for Nodule Occurrences" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2351.v1
Abstract
We show that analyzing archived and future multibeam backscatter and bathymetry data, in tandem with regional environmental parameters, can help 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, and local slope, sedimentation rate, and seafloor age provide thresholds for discriminating areas permissive for 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 in 1997 during the Hotline cruise. The 12 kHz Simrad EM12 DUAL multibeam and the forementioned data strongly suggest a previously unknown nodule occurrence exists. Methods include comparing analyses using three different backscatter products to further determine if scanned backscatter products, rather than primary digital multibeam files can be used for analysis, and comparing results from using digitized 8-bit images, or 8-bit and decibel-value surfaces derived from the MB-SystemTM software. We show this expeditious analysis of broad areas of 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 explores 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.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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