Automated characterization and quantification of hydrocarbon seeps based on frontal illuminated video observations

J. Boelmann; O. Zielinski

doi:10.2971/jeos.2015.15018

Journal of the European Optical Society - Rapid publications, Vol 10 (2015)

Automated characterization and quantification of hydrocarbon seeps based on frontal illuminated video observations

J. Boelmann, O. Zielinski

Abstract

Hydrocarbon releases, either natural or due to anthropogenic activities, are of major relevance for the marine environment. In this work we specify our approach to quantify these seeps by subsea imaging utilizing camera systems and frontal illumination setups on board remotely operated vehicles. This work showcases, based on a campaign in the region west of Svalbard, improved methodological guidelines for the seep quantification operation together with a novel automated post-mission evaluation. The comparison of automated quantification with manual information extraction illustrates the efficiency of this new method while processing comparable estimates of seep characteristics.

Full Text: PDF

Citation Details

Cite this article

References

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ”The Science of Climate Change,” Climate Change Report 1995, 572–601 (1995).

M. E. Torres, J. McManus, D. Hammond, M. D. Angelis, K. U. Heeschen, and S. L. Colbert, ”Fluid and chemical fluxes in and out of sediment hosting methane hydrate deposits on Hydrate Ridge,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 201, 535–540 (2002).

I. Leifer, and I. MacDonald, ”Dynamics of the gas flux from shallow gas hydrate deposits: interaction between oily hydrate bubble and the oceanic environment,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 210, 411–424 (2003).

H. Sahling, G. Bohrmann, Y. G. Artemov, A. Bahr, M. Brüning, and S. A. Klapp, ”Vodyanitskii mud volcano, Sorokin trough, Black Sea: Geological characterization and quantification of gas bubble streams,” Marine and Petroleum Geology 26, 1799–1811 (2009).

A. J. Smith, P. B. Flemings, and P. M. Fulton, ”Hydrocarbon flux from natural deepwater Gulf of Mexico vents,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 395, 251–253 (2014).

T. C. Weber, L. Mayer, K. Jerram, J. Beaudoin, Y. Rzhanov, and D. Lovaldo, ”Acoustic estimates of methane gas flux from the seabed in a 6000 km2 region in the Northern Gulf of Mexico,” Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 15, 1911–1925 (2014).

G. Rehder, P. W. Brewer, E. T. Peltzer, and G. Friederich, ”Enhanced lifetime of methane bubble streams within the deep ocean,” Geophysical Research Letters 29, 17–31 (2002).

E. J. Sauter, S. I. Muyakshin, J. I. Charlou, M. Schluter, A. Boetius, and K. Jerosch, ”Methane discharge from a deep-sea submarine mud volcano into the upper water column by gas hydrate-coated methane bubbles,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 243, 354– 365 (2006).

G. Rehder, I. Leifer, P. W. Brewer, and G. Friederich, ”Controls on methane bubble dissolution inside ans outside the hydrate stability field form open ocean field experiments and numerical modeling,” Marine Chemistry 114, 19–30 (2009).

E. A. Solomon, M. Kastner, I. MacDonald, and I. Leifer, ”Considerable methane fluxes to the atmosphere from hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico,” Nature Geoscience 2(8), 561–565 (2009).

B. K. Horn, and B. G. Schunk, ”Determine Optical Flow,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Artifical Intelligence Laboratory, Memo 572 (1980).

O. Zielinski, J. A. Busch, A. D. Cembellla, K. L. Daly, J. Engelbrektsson, and A. K. Hannides, ”Detecting Marine Hazardous Substances and Organisms: Sensors for Pollutants, Toxins, and Pathogens,” Ocean Science 5, 329–349 (2009).

K. Thomanek, O. Zielinski, H. Sahling, and G. Bohrmann, ”Automated gas bubble imaging at sea floor - a new method of in situ gas flux quantification,” Ocean Science 6, 549–562 (2010).

O. Zielinski, B. Saworski, and J. Schulz, ”Marine bubble detection using optical- flow techniques,” Jounal for European Optical Society 5, 10016s (2010).

C. Moustier, X. Zabal, J. Boelmann, B. J. Kraft, O. Zielinski, and P. A. Fox, ”Near- Bottom Acoutical Detection of Bubble Streams Emanating From Natural Sea floor Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico,” in Proceedings of Offshore Technology Conference, 24171 (IEEE, Houston, 2013).

M. Roemer, H. Sahling, T. Pape, and G. Bohrmann, ”Gas bubble emmision from submarine hydrocarbon seeps at the Makran continental margin (offshore Pkistan),” Geophysical Research Letters 117, 15–33 (2013).

H. Sahling, M. Romer, T. Pape, B. Berges, C. d. Santos Fereirra, J. Boelmann, P. Geprags, M. Tomczyk, N. Nowald, W. Dimmler, L. Schroedter, M. Glockzin, and G. Bohrmann, ”Gas emissions at the continental margin west of Svalbard: mapping, sampling, and quantification,” Biogeoscience 11, 6029–6046 (2014).

G. Westbrook, K. Thatcher, E. Rohling, A. Piotrowski, H. Pa’like, and A. Osborne, ”Escape of methane gas from the seabed along the West Svalbard continental margin,” Geophysical Research Letters 36, 1–5 (2009).

J. Boelmann, and O. Zielinski, ”Characterization and quantification of hydrocarbon seeps by means of subsea imaging,” in Proceedings of Oceans - St. John’s, 2014, 1–6 (IEEE, St. John’s, 2014).

J. Boelmann, and O. Zielinski, ”A new synchronized illumination camera system for detection and quantification of marine seeps,” In preperation.