New approaches to high-resolution mapping of marine vertical structures

Robert, Katleen; Huvenne, Veerle A.I.; Georgiopoulou, Aggeliki; Jones, Daniel O. B.; Marsh, Leigh; Carter, Gareth; Chaumillon, Leo

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09382-z

Cited by 61 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Differences in the geology of these two walls could in part explain this pattern. Walls in Whittard Canyon were generally composed of friable, less competent sedimentary units of varying thickness (Carter et al, ; Robert et al, ), but one notable exception is the southwest facing wall in Whittard Canyon's eastern branch. This wall was composed of two lithologies, including a harder rock that seemed resistant to erosion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The commercial software Agisoft Photoscan professional edition (v1.2.4) was used. One frame every 3 s was extracted (representing 2,587 images) from the Insite Pacific Scorpio video data (1,920 × 1,080 pixels, Figure b), and the detailed procedure presented in Robert et al () was followed. The point cloud processing software CloudCompare (v2.6.1) was used to compute local terrain descriptors (slope and aspect converted to eastness and northness) at a scale of 0.05 m, and Gaussian roughness also derived at 0.02 and 0.1 m.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cold‐water coral assemblages on vertical walls from the Northeast Atlantic

Robert

Jones

Georgiopoulou

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim In this study, we assess patterns of cold‐water coral assemblages observed on deep‐sea vertical walls. Similar to their shallow‐water counterparts, vertical and overhanging walls in the deep sea can host highly diverse communities, but because of their geometry, these habitats are generally overlooked and remain poorly known. These vertical habitats are however of particular interest, because they can protect vulnerable coral ecosystems from trawling activities. As such, it is important to understand their ecology and assess their global importance. Location Vertical walls on complex geomorphic features, in particular walls of the Rockall Bank Slope Failure Escarpment, Whittard and Explorer Canyons, Northeast Atlantic. Methods Video analysis of remotely operated vehicle transects carried out at five sites is used to investigate differences in species composition and diversity across walls and to compare those to nearby cold‐water coral sites on flat terrain. A high‐resolution photogrammetric reconstruction is further employed to examine whether wall complexity plays a role in promoting niche differentiation at very fine spatial scales. Results The investigated walls showed differences in species assemblage both across walls and in comparison to flat sites, with the fine‐scale heterogeneity engendered by walls allowing niche differentiation between closely related taxa. Main Conclusions Vertical walls represent an important cold‐water coral habitat with differences in species composition across walls within a region, illustrating their role in driving diversity patterns. Based on publicly available bathymetric datasets and a catalogue of broad‐scale terrain features, globally over 8,000 features are likely to have vertical walls and cold‐water corals, which highlight the need to consider deep‐sea vertical habitats in current conservation efforts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold‐water coral assemblages on vertical walls from the Northeast Atlantic

Robert

Jones

Georgiopoulou

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

Self Cite

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“…As the nonalignment of lasers with the optical axis would have prevented the use of both image-scaling methods (Pilgrim et al (Pilgrim et al, 2000) and Davis and Tusting (Davis and Tusting, 1991)), the only option available would have been a manual and somewhat simplistic approach still widely used in laser photogrammetry (Kocak et al, 2004; E. Rowe and Figure 19: Deviation of estimated FPA model's scales, using our fully calibrated method FCM, and for each laser in each image. Dawson, 2008;Robert et al, 2017;Pilgrim et al, 2000). This involves manual identification of laser intersection points with the scene on the 3D model, and assuming pair-wise Euclidean distances to be the actual distances between the laser pairs.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic scale estimation of structure from motion based 3D models using laser scalers in underwater scenarios

Istenič

Gracias

Arnaubec

et al. 2020

ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

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A B S T R A C TRecent advances in structure-from-motion techniques are enabling many scientific fields to benefit from the routine creation of detailed 3D models. However, for a large number of applications, only a single camera is available for the image acquisition, due to cost or space constraints in the survey platforms. Monocular structure-from-motion raises the issue of properly estimating the scale of the 3D models, in order to later use those models for metrology. The scale can be determined from the presence of visible objects of known dimensions, or from information on the magnitude of the camera motion provided by other sensors, such as GPS.This paper addresses the problem of accurately scaling 3D models created from monocular cameras in GPS-denied environments, such as in underwater applications. Motivated by the common availability of underwater laser scalers, we present two novel approaches which are suitable for different laser scaler configurations. A fully-calibrated method enables the use of arbitrary laser setups, while a partially-calibrated method reduces the need for calibration by only assuming parallelism on the laser beams, with no constraints on the camera. The proposed methods have several advantages with respect to the existing methods. By using the known geometry of the scene expressed by the 3D model, along with some parameters of the laser scaler geometry, the need for laser alignment with the optical axis of the camera is removed. Furthermore, the extremely error-prone manual identification of image points on the 3D model, currently required in image-scaling methods, is eliminated as well.The performance of the methods and their applicability was evaluated on both data generated from a realistic 3D model and data collected during an oceanographic cruise in 2017. Three separate laser configurations have been tested, encompassing nearly all possible laser setups, to evaluate the effects of terrain roughness, noise, camera perspective angle and camera-scene distance on the final estimates of scale. In the real scenario, the computation of 6 independent model scale estimates using our fullycalibrated approach, produced values with standard deviation of 0.3%. By comparing the values to the only possible method usable for this dataset, we showed that the consistency of scales obtained for individual lasers is much higher for our approach (0.6% compared to 4%).

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“…Data collected from industry ROVs, such as high resolution mapping and imaging of complex habitats can support a broader understanding of deep ocean environments than possible from shipborne or AUV platforms, providing initial knowledge to support these emerging industries. Relevant examples from research ROV systems include studies of cold water corals (Robert et al, 2017) and hydrothermal vents (Marsh et al, 2013).…”

Section: Q9 How Can We Develop Emerging Industries In the Deep Sea?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Eyes in the sea: Unlocking the mysteries of the ocean using industrial, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)

Macreadie

McLean

Thomson

et al. 2018

Science of The Total Environment

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For thousands of years humankind has sought to explore our oceans. Evidence of this early intrigue dates back to 130,000BCE, but the advent of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in the 1950s introduced technology that has had significant impact on ocean exploration. Today, ROVs play a critical role in both military (e.g. retrieving torpedoes and mines) and salvage operations (e.g. locating historic shipwrecks such as the RMS Titanic), and are crucial for oil and gas (O&G) exploration and operations. Industrial ROVs collect millions of observations of our oceans each year, fueling scientific discoveries. Herein, we assembled a group of international ROV experts from both academia and industry to reflect on these discoveries and, more importantly, to identify key questions relating to our oceans that can be supported using industry ROVs. From a long list, we narrowed down to the 10 most important questions in ocean science that we feel can be supported (whole or in part) by increasing access to industry ROVs, and collaborations with the companies that use them. The questions covered opportunity (e.g. what is the resource value of the oceans?) to the impacts of global change (e.g. which marine ecosystems are most sensitive to anthropogenic impact?). Looking ahead, we provide recommendations for how data collected by ROVs can be maximised by higher levels of collaboration between academia and industry, resulting in win-win outcomes. What is clear from this work is that the potential of industrial ROV technology in unravelling the mysteries of our oceans is only just beginning to be realised. This is particularly important as the oceans are subject to increasing impacts from global change and industrial exploitation. The coming decades will represent an important time for scientists to partner with industry that use ROVs in order to make the most of these 'eyes in the sea'.

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New approaches to high-resolution mapping of marine vertical structures

Cited by 61 publications

References 44 publications

Cold‐water coral assemblages on vertical walls from the Northeast Atlantic

Cold‐water coral assemblages on vertical walls from the Northeast Atlantic

Automatic scale estimation of structure from motion based 3D models using laser scalers in underwater scenarios

Eyes in the sea: Unlocking the mysteries of the ocean using industrial, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)

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