Utilizing Autonomous Underwater Vehicles for Seafloor Mapping, Target Identification, and Predictive Model Testing: Updated Results of the Indian Rocks Beach Experiment and Subsequent Activities.

摘要

Our long-term goal is to define and then understand how the present shallow seafloor is represented physically (texturally and topographically) and biologically (distribution/ structure of benthic communities) in the present state on small (m) and large (km) spatial scales. In conjunction, it is our long-term goal to understand how the modern seafloor evolved in geologic time to its present condition. Finally, it is our long term goal to understand the physical and biological changes of the seafloor on short temporal scales (minutes to decades) to ultimately predict and model seafloor evolution.