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Mapping Techniques: Light and Imaging

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Summary Laser Line Scan (LLS) Sediment Profile Imaging (SPI)

Plan-view Photography Underwater Video

Plan-View Photography

This downward looking plan-view camera is mounted on a light-weight frame for small boat and/or shallow-water work. Courtesy: Science Applications International Corporation

Plan-view photography provides still images of small areas of the seafloor surface, generally less than one square meter. Plan-view cameras can be used in shallow water or deeper water with the appropriate housing: a large frame for deep sampling and a lighter frame for shallow sampling. The shutter on the camera can be released either manually from shipboard or automatically using an internal trigger mechanism.

Advantages and Limitations

This technique is often used in conjunction with sediment profile imaging (SPI) to provide detailed information regarding sediment composition and biological activity. With this approach, a downward facing camera is mounted on the same apparatus as the SPI device. The plan-view photograph is taken just before the SPI prism penetrates the sediment.

Plan-view photography is limited by water clarity and a small image footprint.

Plan-view image showing an anemone on hard bottom habitat in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Courtesy: U.S. Geological Survey

Uses

Plan-view photography can be used to monitor benthic communities such as shellfish beds and submerged aquatic vegetation beds. Unlike SPI, plan-view photography can be negatively affected by poor water clarity.

This method of using profile and plan-view imagery was used in the Benthic Habitats of NY/NJ Harbor project.

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