A Comparison of Seafloor Classification Methods Through the Use ...

Conclusions
Study Goals
• Identify the limitations of the multibeam sonar data
set. Use the Nehalem Bank study site to address the
following questions:
– 5m cell size resolution over the entire region, with ~ 2m
cell size possible in shallow regions.
• Questions addressed at beginning:
– 1. Does the MBES data provide an accurate depiction of
the seafloor topography? What artifacts remain and
propagate into the classified images and data layers?
• The multibeam imagery provided a detailed view of the
landscape down to the Macroscale habitat features.
• The artifacts that remain in the final image include nadir regions,
swath overlap, turn artifacts.
July 17 th , 2006 MS Thesis Defense