Quantitative Assessment of the Slope Resolution of Seafloor Mapping Systems

• Main Author: Macdonald, Ken C.
• Other Authors: CALIFORNIA UNIV SANTA BARBARA MARINE SCIENCE INST
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *MAPPING; *OCEAN BOTTOM; RESOLUTION; POWER SPECTRA; TERRAIN; HIGH RESOLUTION; DEPTH; SLOPE; ATLANTIC OCEAN; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; ABYSSAL ZONES; ROUGHNESS; SEDIMENTS; PONDS; OCEAN RIDGES; DATA BASES; THICKNESS; SURFACE ROUGHNESS; SONAR IMAGES; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA246158; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA246158

The depth to the seafloor and the sediment thickness were observed with the SIO-MPL Deep Tow system from an altitude of 100 m on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the FAMOUS area, 37 N, providing what is probably the most appropriate high resolution data set available at this time for roughness studies of the abyssal hill terrain of the Western North Atlantic. We have re-analyzed the original Deep Tow sonar record at a 3-m horizontal sample spacing. Along the MAR Deep Tow profile, individual sediment ponds of thickness up to 15 m are detected, although approximately half the profile has less than 1 m of sediment cover. A histogram of the original data shows that 77 percent of all slopes are less than 22 degrees, but 3 percent are greater then 71 degrees. The fall-off of the power spectrum is consistent with a fractal dimension D = 1. 0 over the wavelengths 8 km to 10 m.