REMOTE STUDIES AND MAPPING OF MARINE SHALLOW WATER BOTTOMS

Abstract

The natural factors and technical means of remote monitoring and the methodology of deciphering of remotely obtained images are reviewed. The natural factors that determine the conditions of monitoring include the hydrometeorological regimen and underwater relief, soil, and plants tangle. They form defined combinations, which make the base for distinguishing the morphological units of landscapes (underwater grounds and fascia). The latter with their “physiognomic” features are the main objects of aerial and cosmic photographs. Remote monitoring of marine shallow water bottoms may be performed using apparatuses carried by airplanes, unmanned air vehicles and satellites. A special means is navy ultrasound (sonar) monitoring. The methodology of using remotely obtained images was developed based on the deciphering of large-scale aerial photographs of marine shallow water bottoms. The landscape approach to deciphering is based on using the regular relationships between different natural entities. By recognition and characterization of object images it is possible to make logical inferences about the presence and properties of the entities that are not imaged, yet are naturally associated with those imaged. The studies include office and field work and deciphering of the results obtained. The elemental aerial photograph reference standards are the fragments of photographs that characterize the images of the natural complexes of the key bottom plots. The reference standards are used to extrapolate the deciphering identifiers onto similar-type images. The inter-landscape extrapolation is carried out by examining the analogous landscapes and transferring the deciphering identifiers to the territories not visited. A program of comprehensive landscape and bionomic studies is proposed to provide for the unification of studies of marine shallow water bottoms and for the comparability of the results obtained.