Towards omni-directional and automated imaging system for measuring oceanic whitecap coverage

Accurate measurements of the oceanic whitecap coverage from whitecap images are required for better understanding the air-gas transfer and aerosol production processes. However, this is a challenging task because the whitecap patches are formed immediately after the wave breaks and are spread over a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Optical Society of America A
Main Authors: Al-Lashi, Raied S., Webster, Merlin, Gunn, Steve R., Czerski, Helen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/419336/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/419336/1/Towards_Omni_Directional_and_Automated_imaging_system_Final2018.pdf
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/419336/2/josaa_35_4_515.pdf
Description
Summary:Accurate measurements of the oceanic whitecap coverage from whitecap images are required for better understanding the air-gas transfer and aerosol production processes. However, this is a challenging task because the whitecap patches are formed immediately after the wave breaks and are spread over a wide area. The main challenges in designing a whitecap imaging instrument are the small field of view of the camera lens, processing large numbers of images, recording data over long time periods, and deployment difficulties in stormy conditions. This paper describes the design of a novel high-resolution optical instrument for imaging oceanic whitecaps and the automated algorithm processing the collected images. The instrument was successfully deployed in 2013 as part of the HiWINGS campaign in the North Atlantic Ocean. The instrument uses a fish-eye camera lens to image the whitecaps in wide angle of view (180ยบ).