Using Multibeam Echosounders for Multiscale and Interdisciplinary Habitat Mapping on the Dutch Continental Shelf

Because the seafloor is a complex ecosystem, a multidisciplinary approach must be adopted in order to produce comprehensive habitat maps. Such multidisciplinary projects have been lacking for the Dutch area of the North Sea. To address this lack, the Distribution, structure and functioning of low resilience seafloor communities and habitats of...

Seafloor characterization using multibeam echosounder backscatter data: Methodology and results in the north sea

Seafloor characterization using multibeam echosounder (MBES) backscatter data is an active field of research. The observed backscatter curve (OBC) is used in an inversion algorithm with available physics-based models to determine the seafloor geoacoustic parameters. A complication is that the OBC cannot directly be coupled to the modeled...

Seafloor classification in a sand wave environment on the Dutch continental shelf using multibeam echosounder backscatter data

High resolution maps of sandy seafloors are valuable to understand seafloor dynamics, plan engineering projects, and create detailed benthic habitat maps. This paper presents multibeam echosounder backscatter classification results of the Brown Bank area of the North Sea. We apply the Bayesian classification method in a megaripple and sand...

Performance of Multibeam Echosounder Backscatter-Based Classification for Monitoring Sediment Distributions Using Multitemporal Large-Scale Ocean Data Sets

Obtaining an overview of the spatial and temporal distribution of seabed sediments is of high interest for multiple research disciplines. Multibeam echosounders allow for the mapping of seabed sediments with high area coverage. In this paper, the repeatability of acoustic classification derived from multibeam echosounder backscatter is addressed...