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Analysis of calibrated seafloor backscatter for habitat classification methodology and case study of 158 spots in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea

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Abstract

An automated signal-based method was developed in order to analyse the seafloor backscatter data logged by calibrated multibeam echosounder. The processing consists first in the clustering of each survey sub-area into a small number of homogeneous sediment types, based on the backscatter average level at one or several incidence angles. Second, it uses their local average angular response to extract discriminant descriptors, obtained by fitting the field data to the Generic Seafloor Acoustic Backscatter parametric model. Third, the descriptors are used for seafloor type classification. The method was tested on the multi-year data recorded by a calibrated 90-kHz Simrad ME70 multibeam sonar operated in the Bay of Biscay, France and Celtic Sea, Ireland. It was applied for seafloor-type classification into 12 classes, to a dataset of 158 spots surveyed for demersal and benthic fauna study and monitoring. Qualitative analyses and classified clusters using extracted parameters show a good discriminatory potential, indicating the robustness of this approach.

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Acknowledgements

This project was partially funded by SHOM (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine, France) under contract 14CR02. The work was conducted in the framework of the Ifremer RD project R403-006 “Underwater Acoustics”. Dr Pascal Laffargue is in charge of the EVHOE data collection with ME70 Thalassa on RV Thalassa; he is gratefully thanked for making available for our study this exceptionally rich dataset. We would like to express our gratitude to Dr Xavier Lurton for his help in writing this paper and many constructive discussions, and Jean-Marie Augustin for his invaluable help for data processing with SonarScope®.

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  1. IFREMER, Underwater Acoustics Laboratory (IMN/NSE/ASTI), 10070-29280, Paris, Plouzané, France

    Ridha Fezzani & Laurent Berger

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  1. Ridha Fezzani
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  2. Laurent Berger
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Correspondence to Ridha Fezzani.

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Fezzani, R., Berger, L. Analysis of calibrated seafloor backscatter for habitat classification methodology and case study of 158 spots in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea. Mar Geophys Res 39, 169–181 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-018-9342-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-018-9342-y

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