Marine benthic habitat mapping using Multibeam data, georeferencedvideo and image classification techniques in Victoria, Australia

This paper contributes to a better understanding of geophysical characteristics and benthic communities in the Hopkins site in Victoria, Australia. An automated decision tree classification system was used to classify substrata and dominant biotic communities. Geophysical sampling and underwater video data collected in this study reveals a complex bathymetry and biological structure which complements the limited information of benthic marine ecosystems in coastal waters of Victoria. The technique of combining derivative products from backscatter and bathymetry datasets was found to improve separability for broad biota and substrate categories over the use of either of these datasets alone.

Keywords:

• Habitat
• video
• GIS
• classification
• multibeam