Advances in the field of underwater optical imaging are reviewed for the years 2005 to present. A synopsis of research and technical innovations is presented, organized in much the same way as the previous report (Kocak and Caimi, 2005). Several recent applications of novel systems are shown as examples, and trends in emerging underwater imaging research and development are briefly summarized.

This State of Technology Report on Underwater Imaging provides a historical synopsis of underwater imaging, discusses current state of the art, and suggests future possibilities for continued advancement of the field. The history presented herein provides information assembled in a manner not found in previous reviews. Present work is grouped according to imaging methodology wherein foremost research and technical innovations of the field are highlighted, with a focus on the past five years. Trends in research and development are also discussed as they relate to emerging underwater imaging techniques and technologies.

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This paper applies computer vision techniques to underwater video images of bioluminescent biota for quantifying, tracking, and identification. Active contour models are adapted for computerized image segmentation, labeling, tracking, and mapping of the bioluminescent plankton recorded by lowlight-level video techniques. The system automatically identifies luminous events and extracts features such as duration, size, and coordinates of the point of impact, and uses this information to taxonomically classify the plankton species. This automatic classification can aid oceanographic researchers in characterizing the in situ spatial and temporal relationships of these organisms in their underwater environment. Experiments with real oceanographic data are reported. The results indicate that the approach yields performance comparable to human expert level capability. Furthermore, because the described technique has the potential to rapidly process vast quantities of video data, it may prove valuable for other similar applications.

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