Abstract
The previous chapters have shown how sidescan sonar data were acquired, how they were (or should be) processed and interpreted, and examples have been shown at all depths and in all underwater environments so far studied with sidescan sonar. Sidescan sonar imagery, like any data, is rarely devoid of anomalies and artifacts. They may be easy to spot or mistake for real features, and they may be difficult to interpret or remedy. The present chapter aims at showing most sources of errors and artifacts, how they can be avoided during processing, and how to recognize and interpret them when they do occur. This will be demonstrated by drawing both on the most recent theoretical studies on the subject, and on real-world examples from a variety of applications. The reader may also find it profitable to look at a short (but now somewhat dated) publication from EG&G Marine Instruments (Fish and Carr, 1990)1 which presents sidescan sonar operations in very shallow water, mainly for the detection of man-made structures. The different sections of this chapter follow the acoustic wave from transmission to reception and processing. This includes propagation through the water column, backscattering toward the sonar platform, processing, and final interpretation. All these stages are prone to errors and artifacts; some of them are unavoidable, but all of them should be recognizable.
There was a new edition in 2001 but it has been listd as unavailable for many years now.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
10.7 Further Reading
Capus, C.G.; A.C. Banks; E. Coiras; I. Tena Ruiz; C.J. Smith; and Y.R. Petillot (2008) Data correction for visualisation and classification of sidescan SONAR imagery. IET Radar Sonar Navig., 2(3), 155–169, doi: 10.1049/iet-rsn:20070032.
Cervenka, P.; and C. de Moustier (1993). Sidescan sonar image processing techniques. IEEE J. Ocean. Eng., 18(2), 108–122.
Fish, J.P.; and H.A. Carr (1990). Sound Underwater Images: A Guide to the Generation and Interpretation of Sidescan Sonar Data. EG&G Marine Instruments, Cataumet, MA, 189 pp. Available at http://www.marine-group.com/acoustic.html (focused on shallow-water surveying of man-made structures).
Fish, J.P.; and H.A. Carr (2001). Sound Reflections: Advanced Applications of Sdescan Sonar Data. Lower Cape Publishing, 272 pp. (currently out of print).
Ingham, A.E. (1975). Sea Surveying, Volumes 1 and 2. Wiley, New York (rather out of date, but still full of very useful practical advice and a delight to read).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Blondel, P. (2009). Anomalies and artifacts. In: The Handbook of Sidescan Sonar. Springer Praxis Books. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49886-5_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49886-5_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42641-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49886-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)