Seabed classification from acoustic profiling data using the similarity index.
We introduce the similarity index (SI) for the classification of the sea floor from acoustic profiling data. The essential part of our approach is the singular value decomposition of the data to extract a signal coherent trace-to-trace using the Karhunen-Loeve transform. SI is defined as the percentage of the energy of the coherent part contained in the bottom return signals. Important aspects of SI are that it is easily computed and that it represents the textural roughness of the sea floor as a function of grain size, hardness, and a degree of sediment sorting. In a real data example, we classified a section of the sea floor off Cheju Island south of the Korean Peninsula and compared the result with the sedimentology defined from direct sediment sampling and side scan sonar records. The comparison shows that SI can efficiently discriminate the bottom properties by delineating sediment-type boundaries and transition zones in more detail. Therefore, we propose that SI is an effective parameter for geoacoustic modeling.
Kim
Han-Joon
HJ
Korea Ocean R & D Institute, Ansan.
Chang
Jae-Kyeong
JK
Jou
Hyeong-Tae
HT
Park
Gun-Tae
GT
Suk
Bong-Chool
BC
Kim
Ki Young
KY
D000162:Acoustics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009792:Oceans and Seas