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)
200512
CRED Optical Validation Data at island of Maug, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 2003, to Support Benthic Habitat Mapping
Video 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 in the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands (CNMI), around 18 different islands and banks, to support Benthic Habitat Mapping efforts during
NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette cruise OES0307, from August 22 through September 21, 2003.
These data provide optical observations that will be correlated with bathymetry and acoustic backscatter
imagery to develop a benthic habitat map of Maug Island. Refer to supplemental information for description of
instrument and survey.
Maug includes three small islands (Higashi, Kita, and Nishi), with a total land area of 2.1 square km. They compose
the subaerially exposed portion of the rim surrounding a flooded caldera that is considered to be a dormant volcano.
The presence of countless seabirds on the three pinnacles provides a steady source of nutrients and organic matter
into the caldera waters. Maug is uninhabited and is protected from development by the CNMI Constitution. It has been
declared a wildlife conservation area. Fisheries resources are currently harvested, although there has been some
interest within the CNMI government to extend conservation to the coastal areas. Results from the 2003 and 2004 NOAA
surveys (MARAMP and Ring of Fire) show that Maug, with 73 species recorded, is the most coral-rich island in the
northern islands.
Optical validation data were collected using the Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD), a sled equipped with
underwater video camera and lights. These data are used to provide ground-truth validation for benthic habitat maps
based on multibeam echosounder surveys. Camera sled deployments were conducted at night, usually between 1800 and
midnight. The duration of each tow varied but averaged about 40 minutes of bottom time at a given location. The
camera sled was deployed from the port J-frame mounted amidships on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. At each station
the ship was positioned with the wind on the port side and drifted downwind; occasional light turns were applied to
the ship's screws if necessary to reduce the ship's motion. The TOAD was lowered slowly to the bottom by the deck
crew using a capstan. The operator monitored a live video feed from the camera and began recording data on a video
tape recorder. When the camera reached bottom the deck crew was notified by radio to stop lowering. The operator
continued to monitor the vehicle and provided commands to raise or lower it to keep the camera just above the bottom.
Equipment Description: The TOAD was deployed from the lower arm of the vessel's port side J-frame. The TOAD is a
camera sled based on the Guildline MiniBat model 8820 tow body. The frame has been extensively modified from its
original configuration and was equipped with an ROS model 54-00100-13 color underwater video camera as the primary
data collection instrument. The ROS camera was mounted to point at approximately a 45 degree angle toward the seafloor.
A Deep Sea Power and Light model 2050 MultiSeaCam low-light color video camera was also mounted on the sled and
aimed straight ahead. The signal from this camera was fed to a second video monitor to provide warning of underwater
obstructions the sled might be headed for. Illumination was provided by two 500 W DeepSea Power & Light Multi-SeaLite
model 1050 underwater lights mounted on the original sled frame. The lights were located near the base and each side
of the sled to provide the maximum possible horizontal distance from the ROS camera. Cable between the sled and the
surface consisted of a underwater electrical cable (cable 2, black in color) with an internal kevlar strength member
to support the sled frame. The cable was led from the camera sled over a 22-inch diameter sheave hung from the
J-frame, and from there around a gypsy head mounted on the alternate CTD winch, amidships on the vessel's port side.
All TOAD surface components were located in the Dry Lab in an equipment rack on the after bulkhead.
Name & address of person collecting data:
John Rooney
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu, HI 96818
Data Files: Video data were recorded on a video tape recorder. The position of the camera sled was recorded in
WGS-84 using Guildline MiniBat In-Tow data acquisition software and a data feed from a shipboard Northstar Chartplotter.
File naming convention: Each tow is given a name consisting of a 3-letter designator for the island area followed by
a tow number, which increments by one for each new tow around that island. For Maug Island the designator is "MAU."
During OES0307 (NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette's 7th cruise in calendar year 2003) the consecutive numbers started at
MAU03002. Video tape labels, the navigation files (*.glo) and paper log forms are annotated with the tow name and number,
e.g., MAU03002. If the navigation file is edited during processing the file name has a suffix 'a' added. For example,
for a navigation data file named "MAU03002a.glo," the 'a' would indicate that 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, 'MAU03002a.glo.met.
Time Correlation: All times are based on UTC. Two clocks were manually synchronized prior to starting data collection;
the clock in the video character generator that was used to annotate the video tape, and the clock in the TOAD data
acquisition computer. These clocks were set to UTC at the beginning of each evening's operations.
Resource Description: Digital video imagery that is geo-referenced to navigation files.
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ground condition
None planned
145.18
145.24
20.03
20.02
NCEI Geoportal FilterCoRIS_MetadataCRCP ProjectBenthic Habitat Mapping and Characterization - CNMI and Guam1398
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
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus
Visual Images > Habitats
None
Tethered Optical Assessment Device (TOAD)
Underwater video
OES0307
ISO 19115 Topic Category
environment
biota
CoRIS Place Thesaurus
OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Maug Island > Maug Island (20N145E0001)
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Northern Mariana Islands > Maug > Maug Island (20N145E0001)
OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Mariana Archipelago > Northern Mariana Islands ( CNMI ) (18N146E0000)
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Northern Mariana Islands > Northern Mariana Islands > Northern Mariana Islands ( CNMI ) (18N146E0000)
CoRIS Region
CNMI
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)
John Rooney
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
Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), NOAA
Not applicable
Unclassified
Not applicable
Unspecified
Complete
The horizontal position accuracy for the camera sled position is estimated
at plus or minus 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 largest source of
error is uncertainty associated with the sled's position relative to the tow block.
After a tow was completed the video tape data and still photograpshs were reviewed by spot-checking
to verify that data were recorded. Navigation data were copied from the acquisition computer to the data archive.
A metadata extractor (gloMeta.py, version 9/28/04) 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 Avenue script named `toadimport.playback.ave', version 9/25/01, written by Ronald Hoeke.
20051017
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)
John Rooney
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
Navigation information are recorded as successive lines in a comma-delimited ASCII text file, with a .glo extension. Each line of a GLO file includes the
following data: the year, day of year, time, latitude, longitude, water column depth, vehicle depth, layback, and wing angle. The field for wing angle does not contain useful data.
A total of 7 navigation files were collected, including:
mau03002.glo
mau03004.glo
mau03005.glo
mau03007.glo
mau03008.glo
mau03009a.glo
mau03010a.glo
CD-ROM
ISO 9660
mini digital video cassette and VHS
These data were recorded on 4 video tapes, include 5 hours and 26 min of video data covering 9.7 linear km of seabed.
List of video tapes:
MAU03002-004, VHS, Master
MAU03005, VHS, Master
MAU03007-008, VHS, Master
MAU03009-010, VHS, Master
MAU03002-004a, Mini DV, Master
MAU03004b, Mini DV, Master
MAU03005, Mini DV, Master
MAU03007-008, Mini DV, Master
MAU03009-010a, Mini DV, Master
MAU03010b, Mini DV, Master
MAU03002-004a, Mini DV, Backup
MAU03004b, Mini DV, Backup
MAU03005, Mini DV, Backup
MAU03007-008, Mini DV, Backup
MAU03009-010a, Mini DV, Backup
MAU03010b, Mini DV, Backup
Video cassette tape
Mini DV
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)
CRED Data Management Team
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
20080502014255
None
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https://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/cred_toad_maug_oes0307_2003.html
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