Benthic habitat mapping using multibeam sonar

Multibeam sonar (MBS) systems are recognised as one of the most effective tools available to map and characterise the seafloor as they can provide co-located high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic backscatter characteristics from a wide swath across a vessel’s track. While the production of bathymetry maps from MBS is well developed, processing and analysis of MBS backscatter data has not yet reached its full potential. One of the main issues has been the variation of backscatter strength with incidence. A new approach to producing images of backscatter properties developed by the authors, called an ‘Angle Cube’, is compared with a standard method for correcting for incident angle. The resulting backscatter and classified maps show that advantages of using the angle cube method in processing multibeam sonar data for benthic habitat mapping.