Geometric corrections on sidescan sonar images based on bathymetry. Application with SeaMARC II and Sea Beam data

Acoustic backscatter images of the seafloor obtained with sidescan sonar systems are displayed most often using a flat bottom assumption. Whenever this assumption is not valid, pixels are mapped incorrectly in the image frame, yielding distorted representations of the seafloor. Here, such distortions are corrected by using an appropriate representation of the relief, as measured by the sonar that collected the acoustic backscatter information. In addition, all spatial filtering operations required in the pixel relocation process take the sonar geometry into account. Examples of the process are provided by data collected in the Northeastern Pacific over Fieberling Guyot with the SeaMARC II bathymetric sidescan sonar system and the Sea Beam multibeam echo-sounder. The nearly complete (90%) Sea Beam bathymetry coverage of the Guyot serves as a reference to quantify the distortions found in the backscatter images and to evaluate the accuracy of the corrections performed with SeaMARC II bathymetry. As a byproduct, the processed SeaMARC II bathymetry and the Sea Beam bathymetry adapted to the SeaMARC II sonar geometry exhibit a 35m mean-square difference over the entire area surveyed.On leave at the Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7420, Washington D.C. 20375-5350.     

Processing Multibeam Backscatter Data

A new highly precise source of data has recently become available using multibeam sonar systems in hydrography. Multibeam sonar systems can provide hydrographic quality depth data as well as high-resolution seafloor sonar images. We utilize the seafloor backscatter strength data of each beam from multibeam sonar and the automatic classification technology so that we can get the seafloor type identification maps. In this article, analyzing all kinds of error effects in backscatter strength, data are based on the relationship between backscatter strength and seafloor types. We emphasize particularly analyzing the influences of local bottom slope and near nadir reflection in backscatter strength data. We also give the correction algorithms and results of these two influent factors. After processing the raw backscatter strength data and correcting error effects, we can get processed backscatter strength data which reflect the features of seafloor types only. Applying the processed backscatter strength data and mosaicked seafloor sonar images, we engage in seafloor classification and geomorphy interpretation in future research.     

Progressive deformation of an evaporite-bearing accretionary complex: SeaMARC I,SeaBeam and piston-core observations from the Mediterranean Ridge

The Mediterranean Ridge is an arcuate ridge of deformed sediment caught up in the convergent plate margin between the African plate and the Aegean. An intensive campaign of SeaMARC I and SeaBeam surveys followed by piston coring has been conducted along the contact between undeformed turbidites of the Sirte Abyssal Plain and folded and faulted sediments of the Mediterranean Ridge. Along the outer edge of the Ridge, surficial sediments have been deformed into sinusoidal ridges and troughs (wavelengths 0.5–2 km, amplitude 20–150 m), which we interpret as folds. In plan view, the ridge and the trough fabric parallels the NW-SE trending regional contours, suggesting that the folds formed in response to compression orthogonal to the Mediterranean Ridge. The outermost ridge is shedding a debris apron out onto the abyssal plain, implying that uplift and deformation are ongoing. We show that the geometry of the outermost folds can be produced by elastic bending of a packet of 5–10 relatively strong layers, each 10–20 m thick, interbedded between weaker layers; we equate the strong layers with gypsum beds in the Messinian upper evaporites. Folding the seafloor from a flat layer into the observed ridge and trough topography would shorten the layer by less than 2%. Two percent shortening (equals two percent thickening) is insufficient to create the observed relief of the Mediterranean Ridge even if the entire sediment column down to basement were involved; we infer that additional shortening/thickening is accommodated by thrust faulting above a decollement at the top of the Messinian salt layer. At distances > 15 km from the deformation front and more than 500 m from the abyssal plain, sharp-edged, fine-grained side-scan lineations with very little vertical relief cut across the kilometer-scale ridge and trough topography. These fine-grained lineations fall in two groups trending N/S to NNE/SSW and ~ENE. We interpret these lineaments as traces of conjugate strike-slip faults formed in the same compressional regime which formed the NW/SE trending folds. The onset of strike-slip faulting may coincide with the cessation of imbricate thrust fan development above the initial salt-controlled decollement surface. The following characteristics of the Mediterranean Ridge are attributed to the presence of evaporites in the incoming sedimentary section: (1) initial deformation by folding rather than thrust faulting; (2) narrow taper; (3) rapid rate of outward growth; (4) karstification.     

多波束成像声纳系统低功耗设计

针对多波束成像声纳系统降低系统功耗提高续航能力的要求,从硬件和算法两个方面展开了对系统的低功耗设计。硬件方面通过采用单电源运算放大器(OPA)电路架构对系统调理模块的放大、滤波链路进行了重新设计,实际测试结果表明实现了14.37W的系统功耗降低。算法方面通过提出一种基于圆阵的旋转多波束形成方法,在完成系统多波束设计的基础上实现了85倍的资源优化效果,为信号处理模块的FPGA芯片低功耗选型提供了技术支撑。     

Volcanoes of the southwestern extension of the active Mariana island arc: New swath-mapping and geochemical studies

Until recently it was thought that the volcanoes of the Mariana island arc of the western Pacific terminated at Tracey Seamount at ∼ 14°N immediately west of Guam. Sea floor mapping in 1995 shows a series of large volcanic seamounts stretching westward for nearly 300 km beyond that point. The morphology, spacing, and composition of those sampled are consistent with their having formed as a consequence of eruption of suprasubduction zone arc magmas. The relationships of the volcanoes to the tectonic processes of subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the southern portion of the Mariana convergent plate margin are becoming increasingly clear as new bathymetry and geochemical data are amassed. The volcanoes along this trend that lie closest to Guam are forming where the center of active extension in the back-arc basin intersects the line of arc volcanoes. They develop well-defined rifts that are parallel to rift structures along the extension center, whereas volcanoes of the spreading axis to the north are smaller than the frontal arc volcanoes and tend to form along lineaments. Compositions of lavas from these intersection volcanoes bear some similarities to back-arc basin basalt, but are on the whole well within the range of compositions for Mariana island arc lavas. The Pacific plate subducts nearly orthogonal to the strike of the trench along the southern part of the Mariana system and the distance to the arc line from the trench axis is only ∼ 150 km. Several deep fault-controlled canyons on the inner slope of the southern Mariana trench indicate an enhanced tectonic extension of this plate margin. The presence of these active arc volcanoes and the existence of the orthogonal normal faulting along the southern Mariana forearc supports a model of radial extension for formation of the Mariana Trough, a model previously dismissed because of the lack of evidence of these two major geological features.     

多波束测深系统及其比测试验

多波束测深系统可同时采集多个测点水深,以条带方式对水下地形进行全覆盖测量,由后处理软件(CARIS软件)制作各种比例尺的水下地形图,特别是大比例尺1∶500、1∶1000,可方便地进行新老测图对比,计算冲淤量。整个系统从野外数据采集到室内成图全过程真正实现了自动化和数字化。由于多波束测深系统具有实时监测功能,可以现场监视水下地物地貌的细微变化,因而在堤防安全、溃口、崩岸监测及水下物体摸探打捞等方面具有重要作用。     

基于小波变换的声纳图像边缘特征检测研究

声纳图像的边缘特征检测是其目标识别技术的重要技术基础。声纳图像背景复杂、噪声污染严重,而传统的边缘检测方法对图像噪声非常敏感,所以针对这一特点,利用小波变换易于消除噪声、运算方便的数学特征,提出了一种基于小波变换的声纳图像边缘特征检测算法。由计算机仿真结果可以得到,与传统的边缘检测算法相比,此算法在有效地抑制噪声的同时,还可以得到较高的边缘定位精度,能够很好地检测到原始声纳图像的边缘。     

多通道异采样率信号同步采集问题研究

网络化和构建全方位的立体作战系统将是未来声呐的发展趋势。随着网络技术和元器件技术的发展,一种称之为“网络中心战”的新型作战模式正在悄然兴起。传感器网络是整个网络中心战系统的最基础部分。A/D数据同步采集是将整个网络中的传感器信号由模拟转换为数字,这种转换应使各个通道数据的相位一致性在一定的误差范围内。论文的研究工作立足于上述网络中心战系统,研究了多通道信号异采样率同步数据采集的问题。     

侧扫声纳声线反射和折射干扰的实验分析

介绍了侧扫声纳由自身声源反射和折射衍生的两种干扰波的形成机理,提出以绘制声线图进行分析的研究方法,着重通过海上实作验证了温度跃层产生的声线弯曲对声纳的影响特点,为外业工作的设计和施测提供了几点建议。     

莺歌海盆地中央坳陷带海底天然气渗漏系统初探

地球物理资料表明,莺歌海盆地区麻坑众多,浅层气发育,在高分辨率地震剖面上可以识别出到达海底的地震模糊带,在3.5 kHz的浅层剖面上可见穿透到海底的气体聚集带,在声呐图像可以识别出麻坑.莺歌海盆地不仅在其边缘隆起带沉积层较薄的地区存在海底天然气渗漏现象,而且在中央坳陷带沉积层巨厚的地区也存在海底天然气渗漏,海底天然气渗漏在莺歌海盆地是广泛分布的.莺歌海盆地广泛分布的海底天然气渗漏是全球海底天然气渗漏系统的重要组成部分,海底天然气渗漏系统排出的大量甲烷气体的一部分可能穿越水层到达海面.