ALBERT

Description: Imaging underwater can be particularly problematic and expensive given the harsh environmental conditions posed by salinity and for some deployments, pressure. To counter these difficulties, expensive waterproof pressure resistant housings are often used, commonly built from expensive materials such as titanium, if intended for long duration deployments. Further, environmental investigations often benefit from replicate data collection, which additionally increases study costs. In this paper we present a new camera system, developed with off the shelf and 3D printed cost effective components for use in shallow waters of 〈150 m depth. Integrating Raspberry Pi Zero W microcomputers with open source design files and software, it is hoped these camera systems will be of interest to the global marine and freshwater research communities.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave. 5 deployments were made during HE502, with all timestamped images collected uploaded here.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave.

Description: The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems, which was undergoing testing during this cruise. In this dataset seabed photos from a height of approximately 60 cm from the seafloor, depicting an area of approximately 1.5 m**2, with variations depending on the actual height above ground of the system. Conditions were not optimal, with many particles in the water and considerable ship heave.

Description: During the RV MARIA S. MERIAN cruise to the Svalbard Archipelago and the Fram Strait during September - October 2020 the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS) was used to collect still and video images, as well as sidescan data, from various locations surveyed during the research cruise. The OFOBS system consisted of a towed underwater camera system equipped with both a high-resolution photo-camera (iSiTEC, CANON EOS 5D Mark III) and a high-definition video-camera (iSiTEC, Sony FCB-H11) as well as an integrated sidescan sonar system. The cameras were mounted on a steel frame (140L x 92W x 135H cm), together with two strobe lights (iSiTEC UW-Blitz 250, TTL driven), three laser pointers spaced with a distance of 50 cm used to estimate the size of seafloor structures, four LED lights, and a USBL positioning system (Posidonia) to track the position of the OFOBS during deployments, with additional positioning information provided by the integrated INS and DVL systems. In automatic mode, a seabed photo, depicting an area of approximately 4 m², with variations depending on the actual height above ground, was taken every ~15 seconds to obtain series of "TIMER" stills distributed at regular distances along each of the survey profiles. Profile lengths varied in length depending on duration of the cast, usually determined by sea state conditions at time of survey. At a ship speed of 0.5 kn, the average distance between seabed images was approximately 5 m. Ship speed was however greatly influenced by ice conditions. Additional "HOTKEY" photos were taken from interesting objects (organisms, seabed features, etc) when they appeared in the live video feed.