Sea Floor Sediment Mapping from Multibeam Sonar: SediMap (registered trademark)

Abstract

NRL's Marine Geosciences Division has developed a capability (SediMap) to characterize the sediment on the sea floor using the acoustic backscatter information from multibeam bathymetric sonars. Sea floor properties play an important role in mine warfare and antisubmarine warfare, as well as in nonmilitary applications, such as laying communication cables along the ocean floor. Of particular interest is the ability to distinguish between mud, fine sand, coarse sand, and gravel or rock. Ocean-survey operations use multibeam sonars to acquire acoustic data for measuring water depth (bathymetry) worldwide. These sonars also measure acoustic backscatter from many incident angles with respect to the sea floor. Since the angular response of the backscatter largely depends on the type of sediment on the sea floor sediment, this same data also provides a means to classify the ocean bottom.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA523280

Entities

People

  • F. W. Bentrem
  • J. Sample
  • W. Avera

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Impedance
  • Acoustic Properties
  • Acoustic Scattering
  • Antisubmarine Warfare
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Backscattering
  • Earth Sciences
  • Field Tests
  • Grain Size
  • Information Operations
  • Military Research
  • Persian Gulf
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Scattering
  • Seabed
  • Sediments

Fields of Study

  • Geology

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Strategic Security Studies