Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
200606
CRED Optical Validation Data at French Frigate Shoals, 200109, to Support Benthic Habitat Mapping
Video and photo imagery, track line navigation files, and log sheets
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/
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 and 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 by 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 and address of person collecting data:
Joyce Miller and 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, FFS in
this case followed by a five-digit tow number. The first two digits indicate the last two digits of the calendar
year., i.e., 01 is used for this cruise, which took place in 2001. The last three numbers indicate the consecutive
number of the tow for that island and year, and start on the next hundred for subsequent cruises in that year to the
same island. During TC0110 the consecutive numbers started at 001. 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,
FFS01001.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.
Resource Description: Digital video images that are geo-referenced to navigation files
20010913
20010916
ground condition
As needed
-166.37545
-166.24015
23.83860
23.68360
NCEI Geoportal FilterCoRIS_MetadataCRCP ProjectBenthic Habitat Mapping and Characterization - Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Islands1217
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Benthic Habitat
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Photographic Analysis > Videography
None
Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD)
Underwater video
TC0110
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus
Visual Images > Habitats
ISO 19115 Topic Category
environment
007
biota
002
CoRIS Place Thesaurus
OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Central Pacific Ocean > Northwestern Hawaiian Islands > French Frigate Shoals (24N166W0001)
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Hawaii > Honolulu > French Frigate Shoals (24N166W0001)
OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Central Pacific Ocean > Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (28N178W0000)
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Hawaii > Honolulu > Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (28N178W0000)
CoRIS Region
NWHI
None
Please acknowledge the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center as
the source of this information.
Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
Benthic Habitat Mapping Group, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center (PIFSC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Not applicable
Unclassified
Not applicable
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.
20060318
0.0001
0.0001
Decimal Degrees
D_WGS_1984
WGS_1984
6378137.000000
298.257224
No correction
0.1
meters
Attribute Values
Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
Offline Data
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.
ASCII
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 data set the fields
for vehicle depth and wing angle do not contain useful data.
List of navigation files:
FFS01001.glo
FFS01002.glo
FFS01003.glo
FFS01004.glo
FFS01005.glo
CD-ROM
ISO 9660
mini digital video
List of video tapes:
FFS01001, Mini DV, Master
FFS01002-003, Mini DV, Master
FFS01001, Mini DV, Backup
FFS01002-003, Mini DV, Backup
Video cassette tape
Mini DV
JPG digital still photo
160 still images available; poor photos were enhanced or deleted.
List of photo folders:
FFS01001: FFS_091301_0640 (1 photo)
FFS01002: FFS_091401_0610 (18 photos)
FFS01003: FFS_019401_0814 (17 photos)
FFS01004: FFS_091501_0618 + FFS_091501_0755 (99 photos)
FFS01005: FFS_091601_0124 + FFS_091601_0216 (25 photos)
CD-ROM
JPEG
None
20200329
Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
20080502021359
None
20010913
20010916
https://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/cred_toad_french_frigate_shoals_tc0110_200109.html
196