Remote Seabed Classification Based on the Characteristics of the Acoustic Response of Echo Sounder: Preliminary Result of the Suyoung Bay, Busan

Determination of sediment type is generally based on ground truthing. This method, however, provides information only for the limited sites. Recent developments of remote classification of seafloor sediments made it possible to obtain continuous profiles of sediment types. QTC View system, which is an acoustic instrument providing digital real-time seabed classification, was used to classify seafloor sediment types in the Suyoung Bay, Pusan. QTC View was connected to 50 kHz echo sounder, All parameters of QTC View and echo sounder are uniformly kept during survey. By ground truthing, the sediments are classified into seven types, such as slightly gravelly sand, slightly gravelly sandy mud, gravelly muddy sand, clayey sand, sandy mud, slightly gravelly muddy sand, and rocky bottom. By the first remote classification using QTC View, four sediment types are clearly identified, such as slightly gravelly sand, gravelly mud, slightly gravelly muddy sand, and rocky bottom. These are similar to the result of the second survey. Also the result of remote classification matches well with that of ground truthing, but for sediment type determined by minor component. Therefore, QTC View can effectively be used for remote classification of seafloor sediments.