Multispectral MBES Backscatter: Advantages of Using a Multifrequency Methodology for Seabed Classification
Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Brazil)
The acoustic backscatter has played a key role in various classification schemes, inputting predictive models and contributing to the interpretation of the marine landscape and its geodiversity. More recently, some studies involving multi-frequency backscatter have begun to be published in the scientific literature, based on the same thinking used in terrestrial remote sensing - that multiple bands allow for greater discrimination of the surface being analyzed. This work, therefore, explores data collected with a multibeam multispectral backscatter echo sounder (frequencies of 170 kHz, 280 kHz, 400 kHz, and 700 kHz) on different seabed types, aiming to understand how the acoustic response behaves according to frequency and seabed type, and to improve seabed classification by applying different analysis approaches and classification models.
Pedro Smith Menandro is a Ph.D. candidate in Oceanography at Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Brazil), and currently, he is a visiting Graduate Research Student at Dalhousie University (SEAM Lab). Since Pedro’s Oceanography B.Sc. (in Brazil), he has been working on different fields related to ocean mapping. He currently works on habitat mapping using different datasets with different spatial scales, exploring different approaches and classification tools. Pedro’s Ph.D. research focuses on thoroughly analyzing and developing the use of MBES multispectral backscatter data for seabed classification, as well as determining the benefits and limitations of backscatter multifrequency data.