Estimation of Coverage and Size Ditribution of Manganese Nodules based on Image Processing Techniques

초록

As the 7th pioneer investor for the future exploitation in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the northeastern pacific, Korea has been conducting the research cruises of more than 100 days per year since 1994. During the research cruises, the seabed surface is photographed every 30 seconds by the 35mm still camera. The coverage of maganese nodules on the photographs serves as an essential information to determine the potential mining areas. This paper presents semiautomatic way of processing the massive photographs of the seabed surfaces using the digital image processing techniques. The experimental results with the sample seabed photographs indicates that the proposed technique could be utilized as a tool to provide the area coverage and size distribution of manganese nodules.