ABSTRACT
JENS GREINERT3, NANCY JACOBSEN STOUT8, DANIEL O.B. JONES1, ANNE JORDT3, JEFFREY W. KAELI9, KEVIN KÖSER3, LINDA A. KUHNZ8, DHUGAL LINDSAY10,
KIRSTY J. MORRIS1, TIM W. NATTKEMPER11, JONAS OSTERLOFF11, HENRY A. RUHL1, HANUMANT SINGH9, MAGGIE TRAN12 & BRIAN J. BETT1
1National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, United Kingdom E-mail: Jennifer.Durden@noc.soton.ac.uk
2Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, European Way, Southampton, United Kingdom
3GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany 4CSIRO (Oceans & Atmosphere Flagship), Hobart, Australia
5Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia 6Girona University, Girona, Spain
7Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, United Kingdom 8Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA
9Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA 10Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Japan
11Biodata Mining Group, Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany 12Geoscience Australia, Symonston, Australia
Marine visual imaging has become a major assessment tool in the science, policy, and public understanding of our seas and oceans. The technology to acquire and process this imagery has signicantly evolved in recent years through the development of new camera platforms, camera types, lighting systems, and analytical software. These advances have led to new challenges in imaging, including storage and management of ‘big data’, enhancement of digital photos, and the extraction of biological and ecological data. The need to address these challenges, within and beyond the scientic community, is set to substantially increase in the near future, as imaging is increasingly used in the designation and evaluation of marine conservation areas as well as for the assessment of environmental baselines and impact monitoring of various marine industries. We review the state of the theory, techniques, and technologies associated with each of the steps of marine imaging for observation and research and provide an outlook on the future from our perspective as active science and engineering developers and users.
