Journal
CONTINENTAL SHELF RESEARCH
Volume 31, Issue 11, Pages 1236-1247Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2011.04.016
Keywords
Segmentation; Backscatter; Bathymetry; Habitat mapping; Fuzzy-c-means
Categories
Funding
- Royal Society of New Zealand
- International Science and Technology Fund
- New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST) [C01X0702]
- Australian Government initiative
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A comprehensive 32 kHz multibeam bathymetry and backscatter survey of Cook Strait, New Zealand (similar to 8500 km(2)), is used to generate a regional substrate classification map over a wide range of water depths, seafloor substrates and geological landforms using an automated mapping method based on the textural image analysis of backscatter data. Full processing of the backscatter is required in order to obtain an image with a strongly attenuated specular reflection. Image segmentation of the merged backscatter and bathymetry layers is constrained using shape, compactness, and texture measures. The number of classes and their spatial distribution are statistically identified by employing an unsupervised fuzzy-c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm to sediment samples, independent of the backscatter data. Classification is achieved from the overlay of the FCM result onto a segmented image and attributing segments with the FCM class. Four classes are identified and uncertainty in class attribution is quantified by a confusion index layer. Validation of the classification map is done by comparing the results with the sediment and structural maps. Backscatter (BS) strength angular profiles are used to show acoustic class separation. The method takes us one step further in combining multibeam data with physical seabed data in a complementary analysis to seek correlations between datasets using object-based image analysis and unsupervised classification. Texture within these identified classes is then examined for correlation with typical backscatter angular responses for mud, sand and gravel. The results show a first order correlation between each of the classes and both the sedimentary properties and the geomorphological map. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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