Quantitative Assessment of the Slope Resolution of Seafloor Mapping Systems
Abstract
Through careful analyses of overlapping seafloor maps and data sets that were collected by systems with different resolution, and different processing schemes, we would like to know which scales of roughness are truely resolved, and which scales are obscured by the sonar system or by data processing effects. To this end, we combine a theoretical analysis of the slope resolution of various sonar system with validation from actual data drawn from an extensive data base of swath imagery from sidelooking sonar as well as high- resolution swath bathymetry which have been collected on the East Pacific Rise and on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The theoretical study suggests that it is the echo detection process which dominates the error budget that ultimately limits the bottom slope resolution.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 30, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA231776
Entities
People
- C. P. Demoustier
- Ken C. Macdonald
- S. P. Miller
Organizations
- University of California, Santa Barbara