A new, revolutionary technique is allowing researchers and scientists to view the underwater seascape in an entirely new light by removing water effects from the image.
A team of scientists from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has developed the new image analysis tool that enables users to isolate the effects of water, making the images appear as if they were taken in air.
The new tool is known as “SeaSplat,” and combines the ability to remove the distorting effects of water on images with the ability to create a true 3D model of the object by combining images taken from different angles.
This could prove revolutionary for scientists studying reefs, as it provides them with a new perspective on reefs they have never had before.
According to MIT graduate student Daniel Yang:
“With SeaSplat, it can model explicitly what the water is doing, and as a result, it can in some ways remove the water and produce better 3D models of an underwater scene. Once it generates a 3D model, a scientist can just ‘swim’ through the model as though they are SCUBA diving and look at things in great detail, with real color.”
While Yogesh Girdhar, an associate scientist at WHOI, added:
“Bleaching looks white from close up but could appear blue and hazy from far away, and you might not be able to detect it…Coral bleaching, and different coral species, could be easier to detect with SeaSplat imagery, to get the true colors in the ocean. This is the first approach that can very quickly build high-quality 3D models with accurate colors underwater, and it can create them and render them fast. That will help to quantify biodiversity and assess the health of coral reef and other marine communities.”
