Optical validation data were collected the Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD), a sled equipped with underwater video camera, digital still camera and lights. These data are used to provide optical information regarding benthic and fish communities. They have also been used to provide ground-truth validation for benthic habitat maps based on multibeam echosounder surveys, but these are presented in a separate product, available on the PIBHMC website.
Operations Description: From June 26 - July 3, 2012, CRED personnel conducted towed video surveys along the Kohala coast of Hawaii, between Kawaihae and Anaehoomalu Bay. The towed video camera was deployed from the NOAA vessel, the R/V AHI, a 25' survey launched, designed for habitat mapping surveys. Operations were conducted during daylight hours, with video data collected using an underwater camera sled, designed and fabricated by Deep Ocean Engineering, Inc. (DOE). The mission report for cruise SB1207 can be found here: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/cms/cruise-catalog/
Equipment Description: The TOAD sled body is constructed from a shortened Phantom ROV body with a tail piece added for stability. The camera sled was equipped with a Deep Sea Power & Light (DSP&L) Multi SeaCam 2060 low-light color video camera, angled downwards to provide imagery of the seabed while allowing some view of upcoming obstacles, and a downward-facing Ocean Imaging System 12000 digital still camera (consisting of a Nikon D90 digital SLR camera within an aluminum housing). Illumination to the video and still camera was provided by 50 watt DSP&L LED Multi SeaLites. DSP&L SeaLaser 100 pair of parallel lasers was used for scaling of still images. The sled also had a Tritech PA200 Altimeter to detect the height of the camera sled above the seafloor, and a pressure (depth) sensor and fluxgate compass, all installed inside an electronics bottle. However, during this mission, a fault within the system meant that neither depth or altitude were successfully transmitted to the control console.
The camera sled was attached to the control console (situated in the cabin) via a 150-m length (0.5" diameter) umbilical cable, with a working load limit of 400 lbs and a breaking strength of 2000 lbs, and is deployed via a pot-hauler with a 300lbs (SWL) capacity, mounted on the rear-starboard corner of the cabin. A video display monitor mounted on the control console was used to monitor the position of the sled relative to the seafloor. Video data were recorded to digital video cassette using a video recorder mounted on the control console. A serial cable was used connected to the POS-MV, to provide position of the vessel. Hypack hydrographic software (version 2012) was used to record position data (from POS-MV) and time. Usually, the length of umbilical cable in the water would be manually entered into Hypack, and this would be used in conjunction with the camera sled depth and vessel position to calculate layback and determine the latitude and longitude of the sled. The calculated position is then recorded in Hypack. However, as noted above it was not possible to get a value for camera sled depth, and furthermore, the Hypack driver was not functioning correctly and would not allow cable-out readings to be entered. Therefore, Hypack was set up to use vessel position as a proxy for camera sled position, and offsets were applied for the relative position of the pot-hauler to the AHI point of origin. During operations it was noted that it was possible to maintain the umbilical cable at close to vertical for much of the time, with the result that the sled was usually close to directly below the AHI pothauler.
Data Files: Video data were recorded on video tape recorders and the position of the camera sled was recorded using Hypack 2012 hydrogrpahic software.
File naming convention: Each tow is given a name consisting of a 3-letter designator for the island area followed by a two-digit year and three-digit tow number. During cruise SB1207 the tows were named HAW12001 to HAW12030. Video tape labels and paper log forms are annotated with the tow name. Data recorded using Hypack software were of the format 000_HHMM where HHMM was the UTC time. Time Correlation: All times are based on UTC. Clocks were manually synchronized prior to starting data collection each day of operations.
Resource Description: Digital video imagery that is geo-referenced to navigation files.
Online Links:
Benthic Habitat Mapping Group, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), NOAA
These data provides optical observations that have been used to provide information on the distribution of coral communities along the northwest coast of Hawaii
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
- Access_Constraints: None
- Use_Constraints:
- Please acknowledge the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center as the source of this information.
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.
| Data format: | Each comma-delimited record contains informaation on the UTC date and time, horizontal position of the sled, and heading of the ship over the period of time that the camera sled is in the water. List of navigation files: 000A1924.RAW 000_0008.RAW 000_0011.RAW 000_0020.RAW 000_0023.RAW 000_0026.RAW 000_0041.RAW 000_0048.RAW 000_0104.RAW 000_0109.RAW 000_0112.RAW 000_1320.RAW 000_1846.RAW 000_1917.RAW 000_1918.RAW 000_1924.RAW 000_1940.RAW 000_1945.RAW 000_1959.RAW 000_2003.RAW 000_2035.RAW 000_2037.RAW 000_2040.RAW 000_2108.RAW 000_2140.RAW 000_2235.RAW 000_2240.RAW 000_2241.RAW 000_2259.RAW 000_2302.RAW 000_2312.RAW 000_2338.RAW 000_2346.RAW in format ASCII |
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| Media you can order: | CD-ROM (format ISO 9660) |
| Data format: | 20.5 h of video data are avialable covering 22.25 km of seabed, recorded on 30 video tapes. List of video tapes (masters on mini DV, and backups on DVD) HAW12001 HAW12002 HAW12003 HAW12004 HAW12005 HAW12006 HAW12007 HAW12008 HAW12009 HAW12010 HAW12011 HAW12012 HAW12013 HAW12014 HAW12015 HAW12016 HAW12017 HAW12018 HAW12019 HAW12020 HAW12021 HAW12022 HAW12023 HAW12024 HAW12025 HAW12026 HAW12027 HAW12028 HAW12029 HAW12030 in format mini DV digital video cassette and DVD |
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| Media you can order: | Video cassette tape (format Mini DV) |