CRED Optical Validation Data collected on Galvez Bank, Territory of Guam; and Rota Island, Commonwealth of Northern
Mariana Islands, USA, in 2010 to support Benthic Habitat Mapping
Optical validation data were collected using a SeaBED-class AUV, over Galvez Bank, Territory of Guam; and Rota Island,
Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, USA. Data were collected from the NOAA Ship the Oscar Elton Sette during cruise SE1002,
which ran from 11 February to 14 March 2010.
Galvez Bank is located about 12 nautical miles (22 km) south-southwest of the island
of Guam. The bank has a minimum charted depth of 20 m. Most of the bank top is characterized by moderate relief reef, with algae,
coral patch reefs and an associated reef fish community. Rota is the southernmost island of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, and lies about 60 km northeast of Guam.
From February 14-23 2010, surveys were conducted with the SeaBED AUV from the Oscar Elton Sette.
Equipment Description: The SeaBED-class AUV was built by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and is designed to autonomously
follow the seafloor, collecting high resolution color imagery, while maintaining a forward speed of 0.25-0.5m/s along a pre-programed
route. The AUV is twin-hulled, with the top hull containing CPU electronics, and the bottom hull containing batteries, cameras, and
sensors. All electronics are connected by wet cabling that is routed through vertical struts. The AUV has a maximum depht range of 2000 m
and a maximum single dive time of 6-8 hours. The AUV is mounted with two 5-megapixel Prosilica GigE strobe-lighted cameras, one downward-looking
and one forward-looking (~35 deg). An onboard Seabird model 49 FastCat CTD also records temperature and salinity data along the track.
During SE1002, the AUV was programed to travel a pre-determined route while maintaining an elevation of 3 m above the seafloor, at a speed
of 0.25 m/s, and taking photographs every 5 seconds. Dives were conducted over the same track during daylight and nighttime hours to allow
comparison between fish communities day and night.
Data Files: Position data are recorded to text files as described below. Photos are recorded to hard drive.
File naming convention: Navigation files follow the format of yyyymmdd_utctime.CTL.auv, e.g., 20110921_2200.CTL.auv
Time Correlation: All times are based on UTC. Clocks were manually synchronized prior to starting data collection each day of operations.
Resource_Description Digital photographs that is geo-referenced to navigation files.