| Title | Correlating high-resolution multibeam sonar backscatter with benthic sediment grain-size distributions to aid numerical modeling in the Mississippi Bight |
| Download | Download (whole publication) |
| |
| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Quas, L; Church, I; O'Brien, S J; Wiggert, J D |
| Source | Program and abstracts: 2017 GeoHab Conference, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; by Todd, B J ; Brown, C J; Lacharité, M; Gazzola, V; McCormack, E; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8295, 2017 p. 98, https://doi.org/10.4095/305916  Open Access |
| Links | GeoHab 2017
|
| Year | 2017 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Meeting | 2017 GeoHab: Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping; Dartmouth, NS; CA; May 1-4, 2017 |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is contained in Program and abstracts: 2017
GeoHab Conference, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| File format | pdf |
| Area | Gulf of Mexico; Mississippi Bight; United States of America |
| Lat/Long WENS | -89.5000 -85.0000 30.5000 29.0000 |
| Subjects | marine geology; surficial geology/geomorphology; environmental geology; geophysics; fossil fuels; geochemistry; mapping techniques; oceanography; marine environments; coastal studies; conservation;
marine organisms; marine ecology; resource management; biological communities; environmental studies; ecosystems; marine sediments; grain size distribution; benthos; geophysical surveys; acoustic surveys, marine; sonar surveys; side-scan sonar;
modelling; bathymetry; seafloor topography; oil spills; biogeochemistry; sediment transport; sediment suspension; marine sediment cores; grain size analysis; Biology |
| Program | Offshore Geoscience |
| Released | 2017 09 26 |
| Abstract | Multibeam acoustic backscatter intensity data can serve as a proxy for the composition and distribution of surficial seabed sediments, but without calibration and realistic seabed models there can be
uncertainty in the analysis. Mosaics of the acoustic response of the seabed normalized to a fixed grazing angle provide an indication of spatial variations in seabed scattering and, therefore, an estimate of general grain-size distributions. These
characteristics, along with multibeam bathymetry and sediment ground truth, can be used to inform numerical model development, like the high resolution biogeochemical/lower trophic level synthesis model being developed as part of the Gulf of Mexico
Research Initiative's (GoMRI) CONsortium for oil spill exposure pathways in COastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE) project.
One of the necessary model inputs is bottom sediment characterization that influences local sediment transport and
resuspension. To obtain this input parameter, a Teledyne Reson SeaBat 7125 SV2 multibeam sonar was operated to collect seafloor acoustic backscatter data. Surficial sediment cores and grain-size analyses were performed at select locations along the
CONCORDE observational corridors to constrain the backscatter data, produce acoustically- derived sediment distribution maps, and provide sediment type input parameters for the biogeochemical model. The numerical model simulations are used to assess
sediment transport in the river-dominated, coastal environment of the Mississippi Bight region on hourly to daily timescales. The sediment distribution corridor maps developed as part of this project will further our understanding of the benthic and
demersal ecosystems within the Mississippi Bight. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The sixteenth annual GeoHab Conference was held this year (2017) at the Waterfront Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,
Canada. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 305916 |
|
|