Optical validation data were collected using a Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD), an underwater sled equipped with an underwater digital video camera and lights. Data were collected at the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, French Frigate Shoals to support Benthic Habitat Mapping efforts.
This data provides optical observations that will be correlated with bathymetry and acoustic backscatter imagery to develop a benthic habitat map of French Frigate Shoals. Refer to supplemental information for description of instrument and survey.
French Frigate Shoals is a large open atoll located at 23.75N, 166.2W. Tern Island is the largest island at FFS and was enlarged by the U.S. Navy just prior to World War II; numerous other small islets exist. The total land mass is only 0.23 sq. km but the large reef and adjacent banks include 733 sq. km of coral habitat less than 100 m in depth. Optical validation data were collected using the Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD), a sled equipped with underwater video camera, still camera, and lights. These data are used to provide ground-truth validation that for benthic habitat maps based on multibeam echosounder surveys. Camera sled deployments were conducted at night, usually between 1800 and midnight. The TOAD was deployed from a pot hauler mounted on the starboard side of the fantail on NOAA Ship Townsend Cromwell. It was lowered slowly to the bottom by the deck crew with the use of a capstan. The TOAD operator monitored a live video feed from the camera and began recording data on two video tape recorders. When the camera reached bottom the deck crew was notified by radio to stop lowering. The TOAD was a MiniBat 8820 unit manufactured by Guideline, and was towed by the ship at 1-2 knots while remotely guided from the ship using adjustable wing controls to keep the unit close to the underwater substrate. Equipment Description: The TOAD is a camera sled based on the Guildline MiniBat model 8820 tow body. The frame was configured with a single Sony DCR-PC110 Digital Video Camera in a modified Gates underwater housing, a Canon Power Shot G1 Still Camera (modified by CRED engineers) in an Ikelite housing rated to 60 m slaved to an Ikelite DS-50 strobe, and two 500 W DeepSea Power & Light model 710-0400601 underwater lights. The Canon camera had a custom-built timer that enabled the user to select a constant time interval (ranging from approximately 5 seconds to 2 minutes) between photographs. An interval of 30 seconds was typically selected, which, assuming a mean velocity for the camera sled of 1.5 knots, resulted in one photograph approximately every 20 m. Photograph resolution is 2048 x 1536 pixels and file names are assigned sequentially and automatically by the camera, starting at 100-0000 after the camera's memory is cleared. The MiniBat pressure sensor and wing controller were also mounted on the frame but the pressure sensor was not operational. The cable between the sled and the surface was an underwater load-bearing electrical cable. The TOAD computers were located in the Electronics Lab of the Townsend Cromwell. The electronics box containing the power switches was secured to the ship's fantail, and all other TOAD surface components were secured in the ship's wet lab. Name & address of person collecting data: Joyce Miller & Ronald Hoeke NOAA IRC NMFS/PIFSC/CRED 1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176 Honolulu, HI 96818 Data Files: Video data were recorded on two video tape recorders. Still photos were recorded on digital camera and downloaded to the TOAD computer after the tow. The position of the camera sled was recorded using Guildline MiniBat In-Tow data acquisition software. File naming convention: Each tow is given a name consisting of a 3-letter designator for the island area followed by a tow number. During TC0111 the consecutive numbers started at 0006. Video tape labels, the navigation files (*.glo) and paper log forms are all annotated with the tow name. Metadata were extracted from the navigation data and recorded to a file with the same name as the navigation file except that a file type of .met was appended; for example, FFS01106.glo.met Time Correlation: All times are based on UTC. Two clocks were set manually synchronized prior to starting data collection; the clock in the video character generator that was used to annotate the video tape and the TOAD data acquisition computer clock was used to annotate the navigation (*.glo) files. These clocks were set to UTC at the beginning of each evening's operations and then compared to one another prior to (and during) each tow. There were problems maintaining synchronization of the TOAD computer clock during this cruise. See the problems section for a description. Resource Description: Digital video images geo-referenced to navigation files
ground condition
Please acknowledge the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center as the source of this information.
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
e-mail preferred
Benthic Habitat Mapping Group, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Unspecified
Complete
The horizontal position accuracy for the camera sled position is 100 meters. There are three primary sources of this error. The ship's positioning is based on GPS SPS, often called standalone or non-differential GPS positioning. SPS has a measured accuracy of under 5 meters. The position of the GPS antenna is used; no attempt is made to translocate this position to that of the tow block from which the camera is deployed. The difference between the tow block and the antenna is about 14 meters. The camera sled position is based a layback calculation that use ship's course, the amount of cable out and the camera sled depth to develop an estimate of the camera sled position. The amount of cable deployed is manually entered by the operator during a given camera tow.
After a tow was completed the video tape data was reviewed by spot checking the master and backup tape to verify that data were recorded. Navigation data were copied from the acquisition computer to the data archive. A metadata extractor (gloFilter.py, version 3/06) was run to summarize the navigation data and test for errors. If errors were detected they were corrected or flagged as appropriate and a new data file was made. This file's header was updated to document what type of processing occurred. A metadata file was recorded in the data archive in the same location as the navigation data. Processed navigation data were then read into ArcView 3.2 shapefiles using an ArcView Avenue script named TOAD.Import.Playback, version 9/25/01, written by Ronald Hoeke.
These data are not to be used for navigational purposes. NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.
Each comma-delimited record contains year, day of year, time, latitude longitude, velocity north and east, water column depth, vehicle depth, layback, and wing angle. For this dataset the fields for vehicle depth and wing angle do not contain useful data. List of navigation files: FFS01106.glo FFS01107.glo FFS01108.glo
List of video tapes: FFS01108, VHS, Master FFS01108, Mini DV, Master FFS01108, Mini DV, Backup
390 still images available; poor photos were enhanced or deleted List of photo folders: FFS01106: FFS_111201_0724 (97 photos) FFS01107: FFS_111301_0352 (173 photos) FFS01108: FFS_111401_1835 (120 photos)
