An Image Analysis Technique for Exploration of Manganese Nodules

In order to develop the mineral resources contained in manganese nodules of the deep sea, the Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) has explored the area allocated by the United Nations in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the northeastern Pacific. During research cruises, the seabed surface was photographed every 30 s by the KORDI Deep Tow Imaging System (DTIS). Features such as the coverage and size distribution of manganese nodules on the photographs serve as the essential information to determine the potential mining areas. This article presents (semi)automatic procedures to extract the useful features from the photographs of the seabed surface using digital image processing techniques. The 35-mm films are first digitized by the film scanner. The depth information written on the film is then recognized to compensate for distortions due to nonuniform illumination. The nodule areas on the digitized image are recognized and separated from the background based on the characteristics of the nodules. The nodule coverage and distribution of nodule diameters are then calculated from the processed image. The proposed technique has been applied to sample photographs of the seabed surface. Experimental results indicate that the technique could be utilized as an efficient tool to process the massive collection of photographs of the seabed surface.