WEBVTT
1
00:00:07.110 --> 00:00:07.950
Good evening.
2
00:00:07.950 --> 00:00:10.590
Welcome to the annual Seaside Chat Speaker series.
3
00:00:10.590 --> 00:00:14.400
We will start promptly at 6:30 PM Central Time.
4
00:02:01.453 --> 00:02:03.780
All right. Good evening.
5
00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.660
We are pleased to have you join us today
6
00:02:06.660 --> 00:02:10.170
for our annual Seaside Chats Speaker series
7
00:02:10.170 --> 00:02:13.620
about ocean topics associated with Flower Garden Banks,
8
00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:15.360
National Marine Sanctuary,
9
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:17.490
and the surrounding gulf habitats.
10
00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:18.450
We are also part
11
00:02:18.450 --> 00:02:22.080
of the National Marine Sanctuaries Webinar series.
12
00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:23.280
During the presentation,
13
00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.040
all attendees will be in listen-only mode.
14
00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:28.260
You are welcome to type questions
15
00:02:28.260 --> 00:02:31.230
for the presenters into the question box at the bottom
16
00:02:31.230 --> 00:02:34.770
of the control panel on the right hand side of your screen.
17
00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:35.940
You may also let us know
18
00:02:35.940 --> 00:02:38.580
about any technical issues you are having.
19
00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:41.760
We are monitoring incoming questions and technical issues
20
00:02:41.760 --> 00:02:44.820
and we'll respond to them as soon as we can.
21
00:02:44.820 --> 00:02:48.090
In addition, we encourage you to close all other programs
22
00:02:48.090 --> 00:02:50.130
you may have open on your computer
23
00:02:50.130 --> 00:02:53.700
or any non webinar tabs on your internet browser.
24
00:02:53.700 --> 00:02:57.420
This will ensure the best viewing quality for the webinar.
25
00:02:57.420 --> 00:02:59.190
We are recording the session
26
00:02:59.190 --> 00:03:00.570
and we'll post the recording
27
00:03:00.570 --> 00:03:02.400
to the National Marine Sanctuaries
28
00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.180
and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary websites
29
00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:07.830
within a few weeks.
30
00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:10.770
We will notify registered participants via email
31
00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:13.290
when these recordings are available.
32
00:03:13.290 --> 00:03:16.170
And for those of you who are interested, we have a document
33
00:03:16.170 --> 00:03:19.800
of links to additional resources on today's topic
34
00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.620
in the handout pane of the control panel,
35
00:03:22.620 --> 00:03:24.993
simply click on this item to download.
36
00:03:32.100 --> 00:03:33.450
So my name is Taylor Galaviz.
37
00:03:33.450 --> 00:03:35.340
I am the Constituent Engagement Specialist
38
00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:36.900
and Acting Education Coordinator
39
00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:39.780
for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
40
00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:43.440
I am facilitating today's webinar from Galveston, Texas.
41
00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:45.930
Also with me today is Olivia Eisenbach,
42
00:03:45.930 --> 00:03:49.110
one of our research specialist who will be helping me
43
00:03:49.110 --> 00:03:51.783
with the backend administration of this webinar.
44
00:03:59.040 --> 00:04:02.250
So in 1972, the United States ushered in a new era
45
00:04:02.250 --> 00:04:03.450
of ocean conservation
46
00:04:03.450 --> 00:04:06.180
by creating the National Marine Sanctuary system.
47
00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:08.730
Since then, we've grown into a nationwide network
48
00:04:08.730 --> 00:04:11.520
of 18 national marine sanctuaries
49
00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.480
and two national marine monuments
50
00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:19.520
that can serve more than 629,000 square miles
51
00:04:20.340 --> 00:04:23.520
of spectacular ocean and great lakes waters.
52
00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:26.760
These marine protected areas are similar to national parks,
53
00:04:26.760 --> 00:04:27.753
but underwater.
54
00:04:29.730 --> 00:04:33.360
The National Marine Sanctuaries Act gives NOAA the authority
55
00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.210
to designate special marine areas
56
00:04:36.210 --> 00:04:38.610
such as National Marine Sanctuaries.
57
00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:40.710
It also mandates that the Office
58
00:04:40.710 --> 00:04:44.160
of National Marine Sanctuaries conduct research, monitoring,
59
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.310
resource protection, education, outreach
60
00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:50.250
and management of America's underwater treasures
61
00:04:50.250 --> 00:04:52.593
to preserve them for future generations.
62
00:04:54.090 --> 00:04:57.840
In addition to being places for recreation and research,
63
00:04:57.840 --> 00:05:00.600
national marine sanctuaries are also living classrooms
64
00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:03.150
where people can see, touch, learn
65
00:05:03.150 --> 00:05:06.990
about the nation's great lakes and ocean treasures.
66
00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.090
This webinar series is just one part
67
00:05:09.090 --> 00:05:11.973
of that national education and outreach effort.
68
00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.320
The Seaside Chat series is hosted
69
00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:19.560
by Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,
70
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:22.590
the only national marine sanctuary in the Gulf.
71
00:05:22.590 --> 00:05:25.950
This sanctuary consists of 17 banks
72
00:05:25.950 --> 00:05:28.860
or small underwater mountains that are home
73
00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:31.560
to some of the healthiest coral reefs in the world.
74
00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:34.770
Amazing algal and sponge communities
75
00:05:34.770 --> 00:05:38.430
and deeper mesophotic reef habitats featuring an abundance
76
00:05:38.430 --> 00:05:40.980
of black coral and gorgonians.
77
00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:42.810
We invite you to learn more about us
78
00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:47.810
by visiting the sanctuary website at flowergarden.noaa.gov.
79
00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:52.770
Now to kick us off this evening, I'm gonna give a little bit
80
00:05:52.770 --> 00:05:55.440
of background over some programs
81
00:05:55.440 --> 00:05:58.923
that we currently have ongoing within the sanctuary.
82
00:05:59.790 --> 00:06:04.790
So these banks lie 80 to 125 miles from shore
83
00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.170
and create a chain of protected habitats
84
00:06:07.170 --> 00:06:11.370
that are both ecologically and economically important
85
00:06:11.370 --> 00:06:13.203
across the Northwestern Gulf.
86
00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:16.980
East Flower Garden Bank and West Flower Garden Bank
87
00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:18.660
were the original parts of the sanctuary
88
00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:21.003
when it was designated in 1992.
89
00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:25.860
The coral reefs at East and West Flower Garden Bank
90
00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:28.200
are some of the healthiest in the world
91
00:06:28.200 --> 00:06:30.810
surviving at the northern limits of their range.
92
00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:34.650
These reefs are perched on top of small underwater mountains
93
00:06:34.650 --> 00:06:38.190
that are brought up from the sea floor into the photic,
94
00:06:38.190 --> 00:06:40.110
also known as the light zone,
95
00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:44.040
and provide hard surfaces where coral larvae could settle.
96
00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:46.800
Far from shore, they thrived unnoticed by humans
97
00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.213
for thousands of years.
98
00:06:50.820 --> 00:06:53.550
The reefs on top of East and West Flower Garden Banks
99
00:06:53.550 --> 00:06:56.070
are dominated by large stony corals,
100
00:06:56.070 --> 00:06:58.590
mostly brain and star corals.
101
00:06:58.590 --> 00:07:00.960
And of these hard corals that grow
102
00:07:00.960 --> 00:07:03.210
of there are about 20 species,
103
00:07:03.210 --> 00:07:07.380
but in the photic or shallow zones there are no soft corals.
104
00:07:07.380 --> 00:07:09.480
And these are the ones that are flexible,
105
00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:13.230
sway with the currents, things like sea fans and sea whips.
106
00:07:13.230 --> 00:07:14.430
And those are gonna be found more
107
00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:18.060
in the mesophotic habitats, so in the deeper waters.
108
00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:21.420
In addition, over 52% of the bottom is covered
109
00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.790
in these hard reef building corals.
110
00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:25.770
This is a phenomenal amount of coral,
111
00:07:25.770 --> 00:07:27.390
especially at a time when reefs
112
00:07:27.390 --> 00:07:29.013
around the globe are in decline.
113
00:07:30.690 --> 00:07:35.580
Another aspect of these coral reefs are their depths.
114
00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:37.560
The highest point of these reef,
115
00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:40.590
these reefs are about 55 feet underwater,
116
00:07:40.590 --> 00:07:42.960
whereas most reefs are shallower
117
00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:45.693
and may even have corals that reach up to the surface.
118
00:07:47.760 --> 00:07:49.290
Adding to the intrigue
119
00:07:49.290 --> 00:07:52.620
of these beautiful healthy coral reefs is the fact
120
00:07:52.620 --> 00:07:54.510
that they are situated in the middle of one
121
00:07:54.510 --> 00:07:57.570
of the most active oil fields in the world.
122
00:07:57.570 --> 00:08:01.170
So if you look at this map, the blue dots are platforms
123
00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:03.420
and the white dash lines are pipelines
124
00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:05.580
that are in the immediate vicinity
125
00:08:05.580 --> 00:08:08.520
of East and West Flower Garden Banks.
126
00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:12.270
In addition, one platform used to operate
127
00:08:12.270 --> 00:08:15.540
within the sanctuary boundaries at the southeast edge
128
00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:17.400
of East Flower Garden Bank.
129
00:08:17.400 --> 00:08:22.400
This platform called High Island A-389-A was in place
130
00:08:22.470 --> 00:08:24.600
before the sanctuary was designated
131
00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:27.633
and is important part for the following discussion.
132
00:08:29.580 --> 00:08:31.720
All right, so in the midst of all this
133
00:08:32.790 --> 00:08:35.460
there are these reefs that are still healthy.
134
00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:38.100
The sanctuary's long-term monitoring program
135
00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:39.600
helps to look at that.
136
00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:41.100
So what do we look at?
137
00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:44.943
What kinds of data do we collect and how do we analyze it?
138
00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:51.240
So monitoring here actually predates the sanctuary itself.
139
00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.290
It started in 1978 as a regulatory requirement
140
00:08:55.290 --> 00:08:57.660
by the government agency that we now know
141
00:08:57.660 --> 00:09:01.590
as the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management or BOEM
142
00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:05.460
for the High Island A-389-A platform
143
00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.643
which sat less than a mile from East Flower Garden Bank.
144
00:09:09.870 --> 00:09:10.980
It was later decided
145
00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:13.260
that this should become a more long-term effort.
146
00:09:13.260 --> 00:09:15.960
And in 1988, the Flower Garden Bank's
147
00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:18.330
long-term monitoring program was established.
148
00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:21.300
This program was managed by BOEM until 2008
149
00:09:21.300 --> 00:09:24.810
when the sanctuary research vessel was acquired.
150
00:09:24.810 --> 00:09:27.060
Since 2009, sanctuary staff
151
00:09:27.060 --> 00:09:29.190
have managed the monitoring program
152
00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:31.860
with supporting funds from BOEM.
153
00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:34.410
So the photo on your screen is from 2011
154
00:09:34.410 --> 00:09:38.190
and you can see our Research Vessel MANTA is moored
155
00:09:38.190 --> 00:09:39.690
at East Flower Garden Bank
156
00:09:39.690 --> 00:09:41.583
with the platform in the distance.
157
00:09:42.660 --> 00:09:44.430
This platform was decommissioned
158
00:09:44.430 --> 00:09:46.923
and partially removed in 2018.
159
00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:50.310
Since it would be impossible
160
00:09:50.310 --> 00:09:52.740
to survey the entire reef each year
161
00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:54.330
our long-term monitoring takes place
162
00:09:54.330 --> 00:09:56.520
within two permanent study sites,
163
00:09:56.520 --> 00:09:58.140
one at East Flower Garden Bank,
164
00:09:58.140 --> 00:10:00.180
and one at West Flower Garden Bank.
165
00:10:00.180 --> 00:10:03.870
Each site is a hundred meters by a hundred meters squared.
166
00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:05.520
The white boxes on these maps
167
00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:07.533
show their locations on the reef.
168
00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:11.370
The study sites were selected as being representative of
169
00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:15.540
what we might see across most if not all of the reef.
170
00:10:15.540 --> 00:10:18.090
So what we learn from studying these small areas
171
00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:21.123
is then extrapolated to represent the entire reef.
172
00:10:22.680 --> 00:10:26.340
Each year the sides of the study site are marked out
173
00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:28.290
with a hundred meter measuring tapes,
174
00:10:28.290 --> 00:10:30.870
which are attached to metal stakes.
175
00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.060
And as you can see here, trumpetfish occasionally
176
00:10:33.060 --> 00:10:35.973
take advantage of these temporary lines for camouflage.
177
00:10:38.010 --> 00:10:41.223
A pin at the center of the site allows researchers,
178
00:10:42.210 --> 00:10:45.090
to divide the site into quadrants,
179
00:10:45.090 --> 00:10:48.450
which makes it easier to navigate around the site.
180
00:10:48.450 --> 00:10:52.500
These quadrant lines are referred to as the cross hairs.
181
00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:53.830
So within the study site
182
00:10:55.072 --> 00:10:57.450
researchers conduct the following activities:
183
00:10:57.450 --> 00:10:58.950
random photo transects,
184
00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:01.530
repetitive photo stations, fish surveys,
185
00:11:01.530 --> 00:11:03.453
and lobster and urchin surveys.
186
00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:07.199
So let's start with random transect.
187
00:11:07.199 --> 00:11:09.570
There are 24 ten meter transects
188
00:11:09.570 --> 00:11:12.480
that are placed randomly about the reef.
189
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.200
A diver then uses a camera system mounted on a metal T frame
190
00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:19.770
to take 17 non-overlapping images
191
00:11:19.770 --> 00:11:22.260
along a 10 meter transect.
192
00:11:22.260 --> 00:11:25.170
These images are later evaluated for benthic cover,
193
00:11:25.170 --> 00:11:27.240
also known as bottom cover,
194
00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:31.173
percentages of coral, algae ,sponges and substrate.
195
00:11:33.330 --> 00:11:36.150
Now onto the repetitive photo station.
196
00:11:36.150 --> 00:11:39.690
So these are identified by metal pins
197
00:11:39.690 --> 00:11:43.050
that are placed at various locations around the study site
198
00:11:43.050 --> 00:11:46.500
so that comparative photos can be taken year after year.
199
00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:49.890
Over the years some of the stations have gone missing
200
00:11:49.890 --> 00:11:51.900
and some new stations have been established,
201
00:11:51.900 --> 00:11:55.500
but many of the original stations are still used today.
202
00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:57.600
So a map of the study site can shows
203
00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.490
the approximate location of each pin
204
00:11:59.490 --> 00:12:01.260
along with the distances and headings
205
00:12:01.260 --> 00:12:04.950
from a known point along the line to mark the study site.
206
00:12:04.950 --> 00:12:07.560
The symbols and colors on the map are used to designate
207
00:12:07.560 --> 00:12:10.170
different kinds of stations as well as locations
208
00:12:10.170 --> 00:12:13.140
that may not have been found in the previous years.
209
00:12:13.140 --> 00:12:15.150
But just because we didn't find a pin one year
210
00:12:15.150 --> 00:12:16.770
doesn't mean it's not still there.
211
00:12:16.770 --> 00:12:19.080
Sometimes we'll find it again in the future
212
00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:22.290
or we can use the photos that we've taken previously
213
00:12:22.290 --> 00:12:25.470
to help find the stations even if it's been camouflaged,
214
00:12:25.470 --> 00:12:26.823
damaged or missing.
215
00:12:28.890 --> 00:12:31.500
These are repetitive photo station images are taken
216
00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:34.530
using a camera mounted on a longer T frame
217
00:12:34.530 --> 00:12:36.900
than those that are used for random transects.
218
00:12:36.900 --> 00:12:38.940
This helps standardize the amount of area
219
00:12:38.940 --> 00:12:43.020
covered by each photo, which is about five square meters.
220
00:12:43.020 --> 00:12:45.540
The base of the frame is placed at the pin
221
00:12:45.540 --> 00:12:49.920
and oriented so that the compass on top is facing north.
222
00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:53.250
A level on top of the T frame helps the photographer
223
00:12:53.250 --> 00:12:58.080
get the same angle on the photo from year to year.
224
00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:00.870
Taking the same image in the same way year after year
225
00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:04.770
provides a time series for specific sections of the reef.
226
00:13:04.770 --> 00:13:07.200
Just like with random transects,
227
00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.480
these images are evaluated for benthic cover
228
00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.153
of coral algae, sponges and substrate.
229
00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.270
So I have a question for you all.
230
00:13:15.270 --> 00:13:18.480
Why do we need photo stations and photo transects
231
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.990
if they collect the exact same kind of data?
232
00:13:21.990 --> 00:13:23.520
I'll give you a second to think about it.
233
00:13:23.520 --> 00:13:25.830
And if you've got anyone in the room with you,
234
00:13:25.830 --> 00:13:28.503
you may wanna discuss that amongst yourself.
235
00:13:36.660 --> 00:13:37.493
All right.
236
00:13:37.493 --> 00:13:38.820
So if you thought to yourself
237
00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:40.650
or you talked with someone else,
238
00:13:40.650 --> 00:13:43.500
the repetitive photo stations give us a time series
239
00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:45.330
for evaluation of the same spots
240
00:13:45.330 --> 00:13:47.280
over an extended period of time.
241
00:13:47.280 --> 00:13:51.270
So I'm talking years, even decades.
242
00:13:51.270 --> 00:13:54.720
These random transects give us a look at a broader spectrum
243
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.810
of the reef so it can help us kind of fill in the gaps
244
00:13:57.810 --> 00:13:59.520
where those repetitive photo stations
245
00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:01.053
are locked into one place.
246
00:14:02.790 --> 00:14:05.550
All right, now analysis of the data
247
00:14:05.550 --> 00:14:07.710
included in the long-term monitoring reports
248
00:14:07.710 --> 00:14:11.160
for East and West Flower Garden Banks and Stetson Bank.
249
00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:13.890
This includes comparisons to previous data
250
00:14:13.890 --> 00:14:16.953
so that we can note trends over a longer period of time.
251
00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:20.670
So please remember that benthic data is
252
00:14:20.670 --> 00:14:23.370
from random transects and repetitive photo stations
253
00:14:23.370 --> 00:14:25.680
is just one part of the story.
254
00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:29.970
We also do fish and invertebrate surveys that is analyzed
255
00:14:29.970 --> 00:14:32.340
and included in these reports.
256
00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:35.550
So these science reports can help with management decisions.
257
00:14:35.550 --> 00:14:37.650
Help us see the bigger picture of the condition
258
00:14:37.650 --> 00:14:41.523
of the reef over time and identify those long-term trends.
259
00:14:43.590 --> 00:14:45.660
So the product of long-term monitoring
260
00:14:45.660 --> 00:14:48.420
is to better understand the overall health of the reef
261
00:14:48.420 --> 00:14:51.990
and be able to track the effects of bleaching, disease
262
00:14:51.990 --> 00:14:54.720
and mortality in corals.
263
00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.760
Fate tracking, which is a technique
264
00:14:56.760 --> 00:15:00.375
that involves tracking individual coral colonies over time
265
00:15:00.375 --> 00:15:04.110
to determine their survival, growth, mortality and health,
266
00:15:04.110 --> 00:15:07.170
especially following disturbances like bleaching or disease
267
00:15:07.170 --> 00:15:09.210
is something that we're looking at.
268
00:15:09.210 --> 00:15:14.070
So why does bleaching impact a particular colony over time?
269
00:15:14.070 --> 00:15:17.130
If disease is present, how fast is it moving
270
00:15:17.130 --> 00:15:19.050
or has that disease halted?
271
00:15:19.050 --> 00:15:20.640
And then what is the resistance
272
00:15:20.640 --> 00:15:23.730
and resilience of these coral colonies?
273
00:15:23.730 --> 00:15:25.950
Through expanding our technology and methods
274
00:15:25.950 --> 00:15:27.930
will only increase our understanding
275
00:15:27.930 --> 00:15:29.970
of the overall health of the reef.
276
00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:32.850
Help us track the effects of bleaching, disease,
277
00:15:32.850 --> 00:15:36.930
and mortality, and then understand the percentage
278
00:15:36.930 --> 00:15:40.023
of individual corals that are affected over time.
279
00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:45.840
All right, so getting into today's presentation,
280
00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:49.620
Stitching it Together with Photogrammetry and Photomosaics,
281
00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:50.670
Tonight we'll discover
282
00:15:50.670 --> 00:15:53.100
how Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
283
00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:55.830
is evolving 30 years of tradition
284
00:15:55.830 --> 00:15:58.710
by integrating cutting edge photogrammetry
285
00:15:58.710 --> 00:16:01.020
into our reef monitoring program.
286
00:16:01.020 --> 00:16:02.580
Donavon French will share
287
00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:06.150
how stitching photos into immersive digital models
288
00:16:06.150 --> 00:16:08.760
provides a massive leap in understanding
289
00:16:08.760 --> 00:16:11.193
and protecting the sanctuary's coral reefs.
290
00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.330
So Donavon French is a graduate
291
00:16:15.330 --> 00:16:17.340
of Texas A&M University at Galveston
292
00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:19.620
with a bachelor of science and marine biology
293
00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:22.890
and a minor in diving technology and methods.
294
00:16:22.890 --> 00:16:24.720
Donavon joined the Flower Garden Banks
295
00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.570
National Marine Sanctuary team as a seasonal diver
296
00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:30.000
in the summer of 2022.
297
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.240
After the summer research season wrapped, Donavon stayed on
298
00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.290
as a full-time employee to help analyze data
299
00:16:37.290 --> 00:16:39.240
and our photography lead.
300
00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:40.980
Since joining the research team,
301
00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:43.830
Donavon has updated many of the site's camera systems,
302
00:16:43.830 --> 00:16:46.080
including photogrammetry methods
303
00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:48.600
and analyzed many, many coral reef photos
304
00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:52.380
to support the sanctuary's reef monitoring efforts.
305
00:16:52.380 --> 00:16:55.350
In addition to his camera and photogrammetry work,
306
00:16:55.350 --> 00:16:57.810
Donavon is also a NOAA dive master
307
00:16:57.810 --> 00:17:00.600
and assists the Sanctuary's unit dive supervisor
308
00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.090
to keep the dive program running smoothly.
309
00:17:03.090 --> 00:17:04.920
Donavon has worked as a dive master
310
00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:08.100
and diving instructor in the Galveston community.
311
00:17:08.100 --> 00:17:10.740
So Donavon, thank you for sharing your work
312
00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:12.843
and experiences with us tonight.
313
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.620
Are you ready to take over?
314
00:17:16.620 --> 00:17:18.540
Yeah, let's get this started.
315
00:17:18.540 --> 00:17:19.410
Perfect.
316
00:17:19.410 --> 00:17:21.100
Let me pull up
317
00:17:22.080 --> 00:17:23.943
and change presenters.
318
00:17:25.500 --> 00:17:29.490
All right, you should have control of things now.
319
00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:30.363
All right.
320
00:17:32.807 --> 00:17:34.557
Let me share my screen. Here we go.
321
00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:36.953
All right.
322
00:17:36.953 --> 00:17:37.860
Looks good to me.
That coming through?
323
00:17:37.860 --> 00:17:39.480
Awesome.
324
00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:41.160
Well, hello everybody.
325
00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:43.200
Thank you for the introduction Taylor,
326
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.390
and for all the knowledge you were able
327
00:17:45.390 --> 00:17:47.250
to share on our long-term monitoring.
328
00:17:47.250 --> 00:17:48.780
Hopefully I could take it from here.
329
00:17:48.780 --> 00:17:51.270
And as mentioned, I'm Donavon French,
330
00:17:51.270 --> 00:17:52.770
this is Stitching It Together:
331
00:17:52.770 --> 00:17:56.733
Photogrammetry and Photosmosaics, Seaside Chats, 2026.
332
00:17:58.260 --> 00:17:59.093
All right.
333
00:18:00.090 --> 00:18:03.426
So to start us off, what is photogrammetry?
334
00:18:03.426 --> 00:18:06.450
Well, photogrammetry is actually a pretty broad thing
335
00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:08.790
to talk about, but it could boil down
336
00:18:08.790 --> 00:18:12.900
to a method in technology that is used to create
337
00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:16.350
two or three dimensional models out of a series
338
00:18:16.350 --> 00:18:19.260
of overlapping 2-D data, such as images
339
00:18:19.260 --> 00:18:22.680
or some other kind of data, which could be, you know,
340
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.460
radar, sonar, lidar, others.
341
00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:29.460
One that you could think of is Google Maps and Google Earth.
342
00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:33.630
So it's a series of satellite images that have been used
343
00:18:33.630 --> 00:18:35.280
to create one large map
344
00:18:35.280 --> 00:18:38.460
that we can interpret on how to get places.
345
00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:40.110
So in this image here,
346
00:18:40.110 --> 00:18:44.310
here I am under the blue dot at NOAA Flower Garden's Office.
347
00:18:44.310 --> 00:18:47.250
And if you have look at this image, you know,
348
00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:50.310
it just looks like a nice normal image.
349
00:18:50.310 --> 00:18:54.570
However, if we zoom out to a nice chunk of Galveston,
350
00:18:54.570 --> 00:18:56.523
you might notice a couple things.
351
00:18:57.810 --> 00:18:59.700
There's a couple blocky textures,
352
00:18:59.700 --> 00:19:03.000
this is from where they have merged images
353
00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.220
and there's also some lines of
354
00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:08.583
where they have combined overlapping scans.
355
00:19:10.830 --> 00:19:14.370
And then as mentioned, we could also use photogrammetry
356
00:19:14.370 --> 00:19:16.950
to create three dimensional models of structures
357
00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:18.810
or places of interests,
358
00:19:18.810 --> 00:19:22.500
which in particular makes it popular in archeology.
359
00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:25.050
So you could create a model of a dig site
360
00:19:25.050 --> 00:19:29.280
or in some cases underwater objects such as shipwrecks.
361
00:19:29.280 --> 00:19:32.073
Objects that will degrade over time.
362
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:36.690
This is useful because we can create a snapshot of a place
363
00:19:36.690 --> 00:19:41.130
and time that we can use to measure objects in both scale
364
00:19:41.130 --> 00:19:43.140
as well as their change over time
365
00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:47.940
if we compare models taken at different points.
366
00:19:47.940 --> 00:19:50.760
Because this is frequently used
367
00:19:50.760 --> 00:19:55.603
in the Great Lakes sanctuaries such as Thunder Bay.
368
00:19:56.850 --> 00:19:58.140
And this is where I'm actually gonna
369
00:19:58.140 --> 00:19:59.730
kind of start our story today.
370
00:19:59.730 --> 00:20:04.620
So I was trained in June of 2024 up at Thunder Bay.
371
00:20:04.620 --> 00:20:07.290
I traveled up to Alpena, Michigan on the shores
372
00:20:07.290 --> 00:20:10.020
of Lake Huron for a photogrammetry workshop
373
00:20:10.020 --> 00:20:11.460
that was with the NOAA Dive Center
374
00:20:11.460 --> 00:20:14.190
as well as the Thunder Bay research team.
375
00:20:14.190 --> 00:20:16.260
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is home
376
00:20:16.260 --> 00:20:18.630
to nearly a hundred historic shipwrecks
377
00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:21.113
and is a hotspot for American, Canadian
378
00:20:21.113 --> 00:20:24.330
and even global shipping history.
379
00:20:24.330 --> 00:20:28.140
And in this workshop we went in less than two weeks
380
00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:31.050
from shooting practice drive models on land
381
00:20:31.050 --> 00:20:32.950
to smaller models in under diving tank
382
00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:36.840
to shooting historic shipwrecks out in the field.
383
00:20:36.840 --> 00:20:39.690
This was also a great chance for me to expand myself
384
00:20:39.690 --> 00:20:42.270
as a diver as I learned how to use a drysuit
385
00:20:42.270 --> 00:20:43.470
because as you can imagine,
386
00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:44.910
the waters up there are quite cold,
387
00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:46.983
anywhere from 60 to 50 degrees.
388
00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:52.770
So to start off, we kind of got familiar
389
00:20:52.770 --> 00:20:55.470
with our cameras using their tank.
390
00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.680
It's a retired water tank that they just now use
391
00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.760
for diving, outreach events, using ROVs,
392
00:21:02.760 --> 00:21:04.290
anything such as this.
393
00:21:04.290 --> 00:21:08.490
And these two photos on the left is Stephanie Gandulla.
394
00:21:08.490 --> 00:21:11.820
She I believe is their research protection specialist
395
00:21:11.820 --> 00:21:13.140
up at Thunder Bay.
396
00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:15.150
And then on the right is Phil Hartmeyer
397
00:21:15.150 --> 00:21:17.940
who is now part of NOAA Ocean Exploration.
398
00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:20.220
And they're both holding two of the cameras
399
00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:22.890
that we were using during this class.
400
00:21:22.890 --> 00:21:26.160
On those arms you see the white little cylinders,
401
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.110
those are the strobes that allow us
402
00:21:28.110 --> 00:21:30.930
to get a little extra light while we're underwater.
403
00:21:30.930 --> 00:21:34.560
And a big lens in the middle is actually a housing
404
00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:37.590
that will keep the camera safe underwater
405
00:21:37.590 --> 00:21:40.530
as it's just kind of a normal DSLR camera
406
00:21:40.530 --> 00:21:42.960
that you'll use here on land.
407
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.910
So to start off, for my first water bottle,
408
00:21:47.910 --> 00:21:50.280
we just used a ladder that we tossed it into the tank
409
00:21:50.280 --> 00:21:53.940
and I like to think it was so good, I got two ladders.
410
00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:56.490
However, my instructor, he was less impressed.
411
00:21:56.490 --> 00:21:59.130
We figured out this was an error in my processing
412
00:21:59.130 --> 00:22:00.603
so we tried again.
413
00:22:01.770 --> 00:22:03.393
And you know what they say?
414
00:22:04.560 --> 00:22:06.090
If you don't succeed, try again.
415
00:22:06.090 --> 00:22:08.933
And you may just end up with what looks like a real ladder.
416
00:22:10.350 --> 00:22:13.380
But this is where I want to get into showing you
417
00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:16.290
some of the shipwrecks that we were able to shoot.
418
00:22:16.290 --> 00:22:19.233
So I'm gonna go ahead and share a video.
419
00:22:29.610 --> 00:22:30.780
All right.
420
00:22:30.780 --> 00:22:32.220
Now should be showing a video.
421
00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:36.120
This is of the shallow NEW ORLEANS.
422
00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:38.140
It's one of the earliest shipwrecks
423
00:22:39.090 --> 00:22:42.150
in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
424
00:22:42.150 --> 00:22:45.240
And let's see, is it going through?
425
00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.150
Yes, my apologies.
426
00:22:48.150 --> 00:22:49.023
First video.
427
00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:51.030
Yeah.
428
00:22:51.030 --> 00:22:53.460
It's one of the earliest shipwrecks in Thunder Bay
429
00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:55.260
sinking in 1849.
430
00:22:55.260 --> 00:22:57.690
It was a wooden side wheel steamboat
431
00:22:57.690 --> 00:23:00.240
that was about 180 feet long,
432
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.690
which now sits in only about 15 feet of water.
433
00:23:03.690 --> 00:23:06.450
Because of that it's a popular stop for kayakers,
434
00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:08.600
divers, divers and even glass bottom boats.
435
00:23:13.470 --> 00:23:16.862
We'll move on to next one.
436
00:23:16.862 --> 00:23:21.227
And we have here the E.B. ALLEN.
437
00:23:22.530 --> 00:23:23.363
Oh.
438
00:23:29.100 --> 00:23:32.070
So this is the E.B. ALLEN, which I shot with a member
439
00:23:32.070 --> 00:23:33.330
of the Thunder Bay research team
440
00:23:33.330 --> 00:23:35.250
that was learning alongside me.
441
00:23:35.250 --> 00:23:37.710
The E.B. ALLEN a wooden two mass schooner,
442
00:23:37.710 --> 00:23:40.170
which collided heavily
443
00:23:40.170 --> 00:23:42.570
or collided in a heavy fog
444
00:23:42.570 --> 00:23:45.420
into another ship called NEWSBOY.
445
00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:49.500
Newsboy tore a hole in the portside hull
446
00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:53.370
of the E.B. ALLEN, but thankfully the NEWSBOY stayed intact
447
00:23:53.370 --> 00:23:55.170
and was actually able to rescue everybody
448
00:23:55.170 --> 00:23:56.970
that was aboard at the E.B. ALLEN.
449
00:23:56.970 --> 00:23:59.280
And now sits in about a hundred feet of water
450
00:23:59.280 --> 00:24:01.563
with its hull mostly intact.
451
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:10.470
And parts of its deck are still there.
452
00:24:10.470 --> 00:24:12.300
This was one of my coldest dives while I was there.
453
00:24:12.300 --> 00:24:14.700
It was only about above 50 degrees.
454
00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:17.580
And as you notice as we're coming over to the port side,
455
00:24:17.580 --> 00:24:19.890
it's kind of got this reddish orange markings.
456
00:24:19.890 --> 00:24:22.650
That's actually kind of more what the shipwreck color is,
457
00:24:22.650 --> 00:24:24.720
the greenish bluish hues.
458
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:26.850
It's just because of the depth of the water.
459
00:24:26.850 --> 00:24:30.840
And this is kind of a highlight that came of the strobes
460
00:24:30.840 --> 00:24:34.320
that we were using while photographing this wreck.
461
00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:36.060
So we kind of got a little too close there
462
00:24:36.060 --> 00:24:38.400
so the color became uneven.
463
00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:41.010
And this was just kind of a learning moment for us
464
00:24:41.010 --> 00:24:44.523
as we were, you know, just learning to do photogrammetry.
465
00:24:45.600 --> 00:24:48.783
We'll move to our last and final wreck.
466
00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:51.413
All right.
467
00:24:59.490 --> 00:25:00.323
All right.
468
00:25:00.323 --> 00:25:02.523
And here this is my last one to share today.
469
00:25:03.510 --> 00:25:05.850
This was one of the last models I actually shot
470
00:25:05.850 --> 00:25:06.900
while I was up in Thunder Bay
471
00:25:06.900 --> 00:25:10.800
and it's by far one of my most successful ones.
472
00:25:10.800 --> 00:25:12.420
I also shot it with the same member
473
00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:15.270
of the research team as the E.B. ALLEN.
474
00:25:15.270 --> 00:25:16.800
So this is the D.M. WILSON.
475
00:25:16.800 --> 00:25:18.570
It was a wooden bulk freighter
476
00:25:18.570 --> 00:25:21.180
that primarily shipped coal.
477
00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:25.230
It sunk when it sprang a leak on its way to Milwaukee.
478
00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:26.880
The crew was able to be rescued
479
00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.400
and the WILSON was able to be taken into tow.
480
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.150
However, 10 days later the WILSON broke up at a gale of wind
481
00:25:33.150 --> 00:25:37.980
and now is where it rests today in the sanctuary.
482
00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:40.680
So as I mentioned on the E.B. ALLEN,
483
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.680
you will notice this one's much more even in color.
484
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:46.110
It doesn't get some of those strange artifacts
485
00:25:46.110 --> 00:25:47.760
from using the lighting.
486
00:25:47.760 --> 00:25:50.462
So that was just something where, you know,
487
00:25:50.462 --> 00:25:52.350
we're learning over time
488
00:25:52.350 --> 00:25:53.880
and that's part of why I say
489
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:56.913
I think this is one of my best models I shot on that trip.
490
00:25:58.800 --> 00:26:00.670
We'll go ahead and move back
491
00:26:05.100 --> 00:26:06.450
to my screen.
492
00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:07.533
Yep, here we go.
493
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:09.810
All right.
494
00:26:09.810 --> 00:26:11.220
So after that it was kind of
495
00:26:11.220 --> 00:26:13.473
Goodbye Alpena, Hello Flower Gardens!
496
00:26:14.520 --> 00:26:17.760
Right after the trip it was right into the field season
497
00:26:17.760 --> 00:26:20.850
for the East and West Bank Long-term Monitoring.
498
00:26:20.850 --> 00:26:22.920
However, I thought this was a great chance
499
00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:24.510
to test out some of my new skills
500
00:26:24.510 --> 00:26:25.740
in the Flower Gardens coral.
501
00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:27.003
So let me show you some of the models
502
00:26:27.003 --> 00:26:28.383
that I was able to make.
503
00:26:30.150 --> 00:26:32.670
We will do our first video here.
504
00:26:32.670 --> 00:26:34.113
one moment please.
505
00:26:40.410 --> 00:26:41.732
Let's see, that is the wrong one.
506
00:26:41.732 --> 00:26:42.732
It's my bad.
507
00:26:44.673 --> 00:26:45.506
Here we go.
508
00:26:50.040 --> 00:26:50.873
All right.
509
00:26:50.873 --> 00:26:52.890
So this is just a small scale model
510
00:26:52.890 --> 00:26:55.290
that I made out of a brain coral
511
00:26:55.290 --> 00:26:57.480
from the East Flower Garden Bank study site.
512
00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:58.830
The main colony there in the center
513
00:26:58.830 --> 00:27:00.780
is only about a meter across
514
00:27:00.780 --> 00:27:02.250
and it's surrounded by other species
515
00:27:02.250 --> 00:27:03.933
of corals and sponge colonies.
516
00:27:07.620 --> 00:27:09.720
You'll notice I'd like the shipwreck models
517
00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:11.400
with a whole in the model.
518
00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:14.130
This is due to the complexity of the reef
519
00:27:14.130 --> 00:27:16.050
as it's kind of hard for the computer
520
00:27:16.050 --> 00:27:17.490
to model all those crevices.
521
00:27:17.490 --> 00:27:21.180
And it's even harder for me as a photographer to shoot them.
522
00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:24.240
because of this shooting 3-D models of the reef is much more
523
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:27.480
of a time investment than it is for the shipwrecks.
524
00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:28.500
And it's also, you know,
525
00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:30.900
something we kind of kept in mind going forward.
526
00:27:34.860 --> 00:27:37.083
Go ahead and move to the next one.
527
00:27:51.210 --> 00:27:52.050
All right.
528
00:27:52.050 --> 00:27:54.380
Next one is of a much larger...
529
00:27:55.327 --> 00:27:56.160
Are we good?
530
00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:01.773
You're good now. Sorry.
531
00:28:01.773 --> 00:28:03.120
Okay, perfect.
532
00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:05.610
This next one is of a much larger model
533
00:28:05.610 --> 00:28:07.320
or it's a much larger model
534
00:28:07.320 --> 00:28:09.330
of what I've been calling a coral island.
535
00:28:09.330 --> 00:28:11.640
It's about 10 meters in length
536
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:15.180
and it's just a patch of reef that's in the middle
537
00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:19.280
of a larger sand batch at the west study site.
538
00:28:40.860 --> 00:28:41.820
Additional lighting,
539
00:28:41.820 --> 00:28:45.240
however, it didn't quite work out how I hoped.
540
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:46.890
The white light from the strobes was able
541
00:28:46.890 --> 00:28:48.870
to bring back some of the orange and reds
542
00:28:48.870 --> 00:28:51.990
of the sponge colonies and others.
543
00:28:51.990 --> 00:28:55.653
However, you'll notice it still kind of favors the blue.
544
00:29:00.570 --> 00:29:03.030
This is because the cameras that we're using
545
00:29:03.030 --> 00:29:04.498
for this underwater photometry
546
00:29:04.498 --> 00:29:09.498
have a very wide field of view.
547
00:29:09.570 --> 00:29:10.920
Think like a (indistinct)
548
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:12.300
kind of action camera.
549
00:29:12.300 --> 00:29:15.690
The wide lens allows me to collect a large area.
550
00:29:15.690 --> 00:29:17.430
However, that doesn't always mean
551
00:29:17.430 --> 00:29:20.550
that area is gonna be evenly illuminated by the strobe.
552
00:29:20.550 --> 00:29:23.970
So what we kind learned as a takeaway was
553
00:29:23.970 --> 00:29:27.870
that strobes kinda add an unnecessary complexity
554
00:29:27.870 --> 00:29:30.873
that the software is not necessarily gonna handle well.
555
00:29:35.670 --> 00:29:36.543
We'll go back.
556
00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:39.023
There we go.
557
00:29:46.110 --> 00:29:46.943
Okay.
558
00:29:46.943 --> 00:29:49.410
So after the field season, we took to figuring out
559
00:29:49.410 --> 00:29:51.600
okay, what would implementing photogrammetry look like
560
00:29:51.600 --> 00:29:52.770
in our long-term monitoring
561
00:29:52.770 --> 00:29:54.870
and would it even be kind of worth our time?
562
00:29:54.870 --> 00:29:58.050
So we kind of broke it down by the strengths and weaknesses.
563
00:29:58.050 --> 00:29:59.160
So kind of starting off
564
00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:00.930
with some of the strengths we noticed.
565
00:30:00.930 --> 00:30:03.230
It's big kind of draw is that we are able size
566
00:30:04.110 --> 00:30:06.450
it's scale and size, coral colonies at a level
567
00:30:06.450 --> 00:30:09.900
that we are not able to do or can't do
568
00:30:09.900 --> 00:30:12.690
with our other photography methods.
569
00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:15.330
The photogrammetry methods are pretty easy to learn
570
00:30:15.330 --> 00:30:18.030
so it should be pretty easy for the rest of my team
571
00:30:18.030 --> 00:30:20.340
to pick up pretty quickly.
572
00:30:20.340 --> 00:30:22.110
And we already had some partners
573
00:30:22.110 --> 00:30:25.050
that were doing photogrammetry work already
574
00:30:25.050 --> 00:30:26.350
within the Flower Gardens.
575
00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:31.590
So weaknesses though, it's got lower resolution of anything
576
00:30:31.590 --> 00:30:32.940
that's kind of not a coral.
577
00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:37.650
So the sponges and algaes are kind of harder to identify.
578
00:30:37.650 --> 00:30:41.130
As I mentioned, we found that it's a large time investment
579
00:30:41.130 --> 00:30:44.220
for complete 3-D models of the reef
580
00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:47.100
as well as if we were gonna go with strobes,
581
00:30:47.100 --> 00:30:50.553
it would add some unneeded complexity with little benefit.
582
00:30:51.420 --> 00:30:56.420
So as a solution we would focus just on 2-D mosaics,
583
00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:02.000
focus just on the corals and maybe try to (indistinct)
584
00:31:03.150 --> 00:31:05.070
for more data compatibility.
585
00:31:05.070 --> 00:31:09.540
So as a program, we're always trying to look on ways
586
00:31:09.540 --> 00:31:11.220
to fill our gaps in our monitoring,
587
00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:14.130
and one that we've been wanting to improve is our assessment
588
00:31:14.130 --> 00:31:15.840
of disease on the corals.
589
00:31:15.840 --> 00:31:17.973
And the methods that we have now,
590
00:31:20.610 --> 00:31:23.790
while they can relay some of the information on disease
591
00:31:23.790 --> 00:31:27.360
that's not their primary or even secondary use case,
592
00:31:27.360 --> 00:31:30.090
but photogrammetry would be probably a great way
593
00:31:30.090 --> 00:31:31.200
to fill this gap.
594
00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:35.640
So we decided as a goal, let's use the ability
595
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:40.050
to size corals within the photogrammetry photomosaics
596
00:31:40.050 --> 00:31:42.210
to accurately assess the coverage
597
00:31:42.210 --> 00:31:44.970
and impact of disease on corals
598
00:31:44.970 --> 00:31:46.563
at the east and west bank,
599
00:31:49.230 --> 00:31:52.470
sorry at the East and West Flower Garden Banks to a level
600
00:31:52.470 --> 00:31:54.620
that we haven't previously been able to do.
601
00:31:55.650 --> 00:31:58.263
So what does that look like for us?
602
00:31:59.940 --> 00:32:03.060
In our case, we are going to take a series
603
00:32:03.060 --> 00:32:06.750
of top-down images to create 2-D models of areas
604
00:32:06.750 --> 00:32:09.403
of the coral reef, creating what's sometimes called
605
00:32:09.403 --> 00:32:13.110
a photomosaic or just a mosaic for short.
606
00:32:13.110 --> 00:32:16.020
We do this by first creating a 3-D model
607
00:32:16.020 --> 00:32:18.450
and then squishing it down into a 2-D image
608
00:32:18.450 --> 00:32:21.130
that we're able to size the corals
609
00:32:22.050 --> 00:32:24.840
and the other subjects that are within it.
610
00:32:24.840 --> 00:32:27.360
So here's that model from earlier.
611
00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:29.850
And on the left here, just a nice image of,
612
00:32:29.850 --> 00:32:31.770
but however, if we were to squash it down
613
00:32:31.770 --> 00:32:34.840
from a top point of view, you get an output
614
00:32:36.291 --> 00:32:38.133
of photomosaic here on the right.
615
00:32:40.590 --> 00:32:43.293
And that leads me to my next video.
616
00:32:48.450 --> 00:32:49.350
Which is...
617
00:33:01.326 --> 00:33:03.180
All right, so it leads me to this one here.
618
00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:05.670
So in a field season of 2025,
619
00:33:05.670 --> 00:33:10.200
we started our random photomosaics on our reef wide scale.
620
00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:14.700
These models are of random points across the coral reef cap
621
00:33:14.700 --> 00:33:19.700
at predetermined but random directions to avoid any bias.
622
00:33:20.610 --> 00:33:23.880
Each model is of a 15 by 2 meter area,
623
00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:25.890
which was marked out by scale bars
624
00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:27.633
and a 15 meter measuring tape.
625
00:33:29.730 --> 00:33:33.180
The area captured is a little bit larger than
626
00:33:33.180 --> 00:33:36.360
that study area so that we can make sure
627
00:33:36.360 --> 00:33:39.810
that we properly capture the area we want
628
00:33:39.810 --> 00:33:43.203
and we can always trim it down in post-processing.
629
00:33:44.100 --> 00:33:47.550
The methods that we're using are of an adapted version
630
00:33:47.550 --> 00:33:48.990
of our partners methods
631
00:33:48.990 --> 00:33:51.780
over at the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program.
632
00:33:51.780 --> 00:33:54.690
So we benefit from not having to reinvent the wheel
633
00:33:54.690 --> 00:33:56.130
when it comes to developing
634
00:33:56.130 --> 00:33:58.560
what we wanted to do and how we collect our data.
635
00:33:58.560 --> 00:34:02.103
And we can also now share our data between our programs.
636
00:34:03.210 --> 00:34:08.010
This model here that you're looking at is from East Bank
637
00:34:08.010 --> 00:34:10.590
and it shows the 3-D model that was used
638
00:34:10.590 --> 00:34:13.470
before we created the photomosaic,
639
00:34:13.470 --> 00:34:17.100
and it was shot by Aaron Bouwkamp over at Moody Gardens
640
00:34:17.100 --> 00:34:18.960
who was part of the crews
641
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:21.180
that collected all these photomosaics
642
00:34:21.180 --> 00:34:23.163
as part of our continued partnership.
643
00:34:24.870 --> 00:34:27.453
All right. I'll hop back to my slides.
644
00:34:34.650 --> 00:34:35.800
All right. There we go.
645
00:34:37.140 --> 00:34:40.770
All right. So overall I'd say the cruise was a success.
646
00:34:40.770 --> 00:34:43.860
However, just like any first run, it did have its flaws.
647
00:34:43.860 --> 00:34:45.600
One of our cameras refused to work
648
00:34:45.600 --> 00:34:48.630
after it shot its first model.
649
00:34:48.630 --> 00:34:49.920
The camera wasn't damaged,
650
00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:52.680
the underwater housing would compress oddly
651
00:34:52.680 --> 00:34:54.480
so some of the buttons couldn't be used
652
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.210
and we ended up only having one camera for the trip,
653
00:34:57.210 --> 00:34:58.740
however, we made the best of it.
654
00:34:58.740 --> 00:35:01.713
So all in all we collected 22 mosaics in total.
655
00:35:03.150 --> 00:35:06.330
This here is a photomosaic that was produced
656
00:35:06.330 --> 00:35:08.280
from the trip at West Bank.
657
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:11.310
You can see the tape measure at the top.
658
00:35:11.310 --> 00:35:14.730
This lets the divers note the length of the area
659
00:35:14.730 --> 00:35:16.920
that they need to be photographing.
660
00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:20.460
And then in the top left you can see a clipboard.
661
00:35:20.460 --> 00:35:23.070
This clipboard is used underwater by the diver
662
00:35:23.070 --> 00:35:25.560
to record some information about the site,
663
00:35:25.560 --> 00:35:28.680
such as depth of certain points, who's taking the photos,
664
00:35:28.680 --> 00:35:32.070
what site it is, what compass headings being used,
665
00:35:32.070 --> 00:35:35.340
and other kind of useful data like that.
666
00:35:35.340 --> 00:35:39.480
Then in the bottom left, that little rectangle there,
667
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:41.671
that's one of our scale bars.
668
00:35:41.671 --> 00:35:45.840
The software can actually use these scale bars
669
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:50.250
to help build the 3D model in the photomosaic
670
00:35:50.250 --> 00:35:54.534
as references as it's stitching everything together.
671
00:35:54.534 --> 00:35:58.380
You'll see the circles there, they're kind of odd shapes.
672
00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:02.250
That's because the software has a internal
673
00:36:02.250 --> 00:36:06.150
kind of protocol to self-analyze the image
674
00:36:06.150 --> 00:36:09.480
and find those so I don't have to put them in myself.
675
00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:11.030
It's a little time saver there.
676
00:36:13.560 --> 00:36:16.680
So once we've built the models
677
00:36:16.680 --> 00:36:19.560
and we've made the photomosaic, what's next?
678
00:36:19.560 --> 00:36:21.150
Well, to analyze each mosaic,
679
00:36:21.150 --> 00:36:23.220
we're using the software called TagLab.
680
00:36:23.220 --> 00:36:28.220
It's an automation tool that allows us to segment the mosaic
681
00:36:29.130 --> 00:36:30.993
into different coral colonies.
682
00:36:31.950 --> 00:36:35.940
Seen here each colony has been segmented out, colored,
683
00:36:35.940 --> 00:36:39.003
whereas each color is a different species of coral.
684
00:36:40.110 --> 00:36:42.060
Once we've labeled the corals,
685
00:36:42.060 --> 00:36:44.250
the software will spit out a spreadsheet
686
00:36:44.250 --> 00:36:47.670
with the total coverage areas of each individual colony.
687
00:36:47.670 --> 00:36:49.470
And we do this twice actually.
688
00:36:49.470 --> 00:36:52.440
The first time we do it with all of the corals
689
00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:54.630
and we capture the entire coral.
690
00:36:54.630 --> 00:36:56.430
And then the second time we segment
691
00:36:56.430 --> 00:36:59.040
only the disease areas of the coral.
692
00:36:59.040 --> 00:37:02.700
We do this so that we can compare the data
693
00:37:02.700 --> 00:37:04.830
and find out what's the percentages
694
00:37:04.830 --> 00:37:06.903
of the coral coverage that is diseased.
695
00:37:08.370 --> 00:37:10.650
And this year this is kind of the main benefit
696
00:37:10.650 --> 00:37:12.720
of using our photomosaics.
697
00:37:12.720 --> 00:37:14.580
Our other photogrammetry methods
698
00:37:14.580 --> 00:37:16.980
like the random transect and repetitive quadrats,
699
00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.860
they don't have a way to size the corals or disease
700
00:37:22.980 --> 00:37:26.370
and rely on other ways to derive coverages.
701
00:37:26.370 --> 00:37:29.460
Whereas the photomosiacs can give us accurate numbers
702
00:37:29.460 --> 00:37:32.583
every time that we can use within our monitoring.
703
00:37:36.270 --> 00:37:38.790
From there it's a lot of spreadsheet math
704
00:37:38.790 --> 00:37:39.960
to figure out the rest.
705
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:41.970
I'll spare you most of the boring details,
706
00:37:41.970 --> 00:37:46.050
but we get a couple important values.
707
00:37:46.050 --> 00:37:50.010
As of right now, the 2025 field season data
708
00:37:50.010 --> 00:37:51.360
is still in processing.
709
00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:54.033
So the data in front of you is from early testing.
710
00:37:55.380 --> 00:37:56.530
So don't look too deep.
711
00:37:57.750 --> 00:37:59.460
The total coverage area...
712
00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:00.293
Sorry.
713
00:38:00.293 --> 00:38:02.280
The first of these values that we get
714
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:05.070
is the total coverage area for each coral species.
715
00:38:05.070 --> 00:38:08.340
This is similar to what our random transects give us.
716
00:38:08.340 --> 00:38:11.793
And if all goes right, this data should be roughly the same.
717
00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:14.700
This data point kind of serves as a test
718
00:38:14.700 --> 00:38:16.860
or insurance that we know that
719
00:38:16.860 --> 00:38:19.380
what we're doing in these photogrammetry methods
720
00:38:19.380 --> 00:38:22.923
is true to life and is in line with our other methods.
721
00:38:26.070 --> 00:38:28.260
The next kind of value is we get ratios
722
00:38:28.260 --> 00:38:32.370
on healthy to disease individual colonies for species.
723
00:38:32.370 --> 00:38:35.640
So think every, for every X colonies
724
00:38:35.640 --> 00:38:37.890
you get Y that are diseased.
725
00:38:37.890 --> 00:38:39.930
This will highlight any species of coral
726
00:38:39.930 --> 00:38:42.510
that may or may not have a lot of mortality,
727
00:38:42.510 --> 00:38:46.650
but it's possibly more susceptible to catching it.
728
00:38:46.650 --> 00:38:49.410
And lastly, we get the percentage
729
00:38:49.410 --> 00:38:53.043
of disease coverage per species overall.
730
00:38:54.030 --> 00:38:56.550
This will highlight which coral species are being
731
00:38:56.550 --> 00:38:59.610
impacted the most and may be suffering the most mortality
732
00:38:59.610 --> 00:39:01.200
of all of the coral species.
733
00:39:01.200 --> 00:39:03.480
And it'll give us a number that we can use
734
00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:06.270
to track over time to assess the intensity
735
00:39:06.270 --> 00:39:07.773
of the disease on the reef.
736
00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:11.610
So for now, we're gonna continue processing
737
00:39:11.610 --> 00:39:14.043
but hopefully we'll have more to share soon.
738
00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:20.730
So now I've kinda shown you what we're doing with it now,
739
00:39:20.730 --> 00:39:21.840
where can we go with this?
740
00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:24.360
How can we expand our photogrammetry methods
741
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:26.040
in the future for our monitoring?
742
00:39:26.040 --> 00:39:28.170
So there's a couple ways.
743
00:39:28.170 --> 00:39:32.100
For one, we can intensify any of our fate tracking
744
00:39:32.100 --> 00:39:33.483
or fate studies.
745
00:39:35.580 --> 00:39:37.683
Think the repetitive quadrats.
746
00:39:38.610 --> 00:39:40.050
However, if we switch this
747
00:39:40.050 --> 00:39:41.910
over to something like photogrammetry,
748
00:39:41.910 --> 00:39:44.940
it can give us more detailed and numeric information
749
00:39:44.940 --> 00:39:46.800
as to the size of the coral,
750
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.090
which can be used to track
751
00:39:48.090 --> 00:39:50.490
how much the coral has grown over time,
752
00:39:50.490 --> 00:39:52.260
how much has been lost if.
753
00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:53.940
It does have disease, you know,
754
00:39:53.940 --> 00:39:56.100
what is the rate of that disease progressing
755
00:39:56.100 --> 00:39:57.930
or not progressing?
756
00:39:57.930 --> 00:40:00.120
How well has it recovered?
757
00:40:00.120 --> 00:40:03.840
It also could be used to track how much of the colony
758
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:06.840
and surrounding reef has been lost to bio erosion.
759
00:40:06.840 --> 00:40:09.360
In particular the dissolving
760
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:12.393
of coral skeleton from ocean acidification.
761
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:18.210
We can also use it for coral demographic studies.
762
00:40:18.210 --> 00:40:23.160
So this would collect data on the size,
763
00:40:23.160 --> 00:40:25.287
density, abundance and details such as bleaching
764
00:40:25.287 --> 00:40:29.130
and disease of corals tracked in a tracked area
765
00:40:29.130 --> 00:40:31.200
or a random area reef.
766
00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:34.860
Now this isn't too far off from what we're doing now,
767
00:40:34.860 --> 00:40:38.370
however, it's far more expansive and intensive
768
00:40:38.370 --> 00:40:40.140
from a processing side.
769
00:40:40.140 --> 00:40:42.200
So because of that...
770
00:40:43.740 --> 00:40:45.330
Or sorry.
771
00:40:45.330 --> 00:40:48.540
And this is actually how the National Coral Reef Monitoring
772
00:40:48.540 --> 00:40:52.140
program is using photogrammetry.
773
00:40:52.140 --> 00:40:56.133
And because of that and our shared compatibility of data,
774
00:40:58.170 --> 00:41:02.500
the data that we're producing could retroactively be seen
775
00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:05.660
to track the corals in such a way.
776
00:41:06.750 --> 00:41:09.120
The next thing we could do is we could collect larger areas
777
00:41:09.120 --> 00:41:13.140
of data so we could photograph the entire study site
778
00:41:13.140 --> 00:41:15.530
for a year to year model for us to use
779
00:41:15.530 --> 00:41:17.010
as well as our partners.
780
00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:20.010
And this has actually been done previously
781
00:41:20.010 --> 00:41:22.203
by Arc Gleason in 2019.
782
00:41:23.610 --> 00:41:28.140
So in front of you on the right you have all four quadrants
783
00:41:28.140 --> 00:41:30.180
of the study site at east
784
00:41:30.180 --> 00:41:34.200
and then on the left is the southwest quadrant
785
00:41:34.200 --> 00:41:37.020
where each one of those numbers is actually
786
00:41:37.020 --> 00:41:40.323
one of our repetitive photo stations.
787
00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:44.850
So having this larger data set would not only benefit us,
788
00:41:44.850 --> 00:41:48.453
but also could be useful data to pass off to partners.
789
00:41:50.100 --> 00:41:54.210
And lastly, to move away from our scientific methods,
790
00:41:54.210 --> 00:41:56.640
we could create more outreach material,
791
00:41:56.640 --> 00:41:58.980
things like maps of areas of the reef
792
00:41:58.980 --> 00:42:02.010
for recreational divers to reference in dive planning.
793
00:42:02.010 --> 00:42:06.677
Or even models of areas for 3-D virtual reality
794
00:42:07.530 --> 00:42:09.330
so that anybody could dive the reef.
795
00:42:11.160 --> 00:42:13.980
But yeah, that's pretty much all I have for you guys today.
796
00:42:13.980 --> 00:42:15.840
I wanna thank you guys for coming.
797
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.180
I hope you guys enjoyed the show.
798
00:42:18.180 --> 00:42:21.570
I wanna give a special thanks out to Thunder Bay
799
00:42:21.570 --> 00:42:24.090
National Marine Sanctuary and the NOAA Dive Center
800
00:42:24.090 --> 00:42:26.160
for putting on that awesome workshop
801
00:42:26.160 --> 00:42:29.700
and allowing me to bring this knowledge down to my team.
802
00:42:29.700 --> 00:42:31.260
And then I also want to thank my team
803
00:42:31.260 --> 00:42:34.080
and our frequent partners for helping me implement this
804
00:42:34.080 --> 00:42:36.780
and taking it where it is now.
805
00:42:36.780 --> 00:42:39.990
And then of course I wanna thank all of you guys.
806
00:42:39.990 --> 00:42:43.980
This is your sanctuary and it's great to see you all enjoy
807
00:42:43.980 --> 00:42:47.700
and engage with it and it is the reason why we're here
808
00:42:47.700 --> 00:42:50.280
and able to share this with y'all.
809
00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:52.367
So yeah, back to you Taylor.
810
00:42:53.955 --> 00:42:54.788
Awesome.
811
00:42:54.788 --> 00:42:55.930
Thank you so much Donavon
812
00:42:56.790 --> 00:42:59.370
for sharing your knowledge and your journey
813
00:42:59.370 --> 00:43:01.173
and how you've gotten to this point.
814
00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:05.610
We do have some questions coming in the chat.
815
00:43:05.610 --> 00:43:09.600
So right now is a great time that if you have a question
816
00:43:09.600 --> 00:43:11.250
that you've been wanting to ask,
817
00:43:11.250 --> 00:43:13.277
leave that in the question box
818
00:43:13.277 --> 00:43:16.680
and we'll get to as many questions as we can.
819
00:43:16.680 --> 00:43:19.920
And for those questions that we can't get to,
820
00:43:19.920 --> 00:43:23.850
we do send out an email later on answering those questions.
821
00:43:23.850 --> 00:43:27.300
So Donavon, if you're up for it, I got some questions.
822
00:43:27.300 --> 00:43:28.133
Let's do it.
823
00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:32.790
Okay, so first question is
824
00:43:32.790 --> 00:43:35.790
from a viewer who wants to know
825
00:43:35.790 --> 00:43:40.140
on your E.B. ALLEN video there were some white patches.
826
00:43:40.140 --> 00:43:42.180
Could you kind of go back to that video
827
00:43:42.180 --> 00:43:44.340
and explain it to everyone?
828
00:43:44.340 --> 00:43:46.220
Yeah, let's open it back up.
829
00:43:51.556 --> 00:43:53.223
All right. E.B. ALLEN.
830
00:44:00.690 --> 00:44:01.523
All right, there we go.
831
00:44:01.523 --> 00:44:02.820
I got the video going for you guys.
832
00:44:02.820 --> 00:44:05.850
So yeah, those dark, those whites...
833
00:44:05.850 --> 00:44:06.870
Sorry, lemme back up.
834
00:44:06.870 --> 00:44:10.230
Those white patches are actually areas
835
00:44:10.230 --> 00:44:14.610
where the cameras weren't really able to collect data,
836
00:44:14.610 --> 00:44:15.443
I guess.
837
00:44:15.443 --> 00:44:18.930
Those would be like kind of black parts of the images.
838
00:44:18.930 --> 00:44:20.073
They would be shadows.
839
00:44:20.910 --> 00:44:22.230
As I mentioned this,
840
00:44:22.230 --> 00:44:24.300
this reef is down at about a hundred feet
841
00:44:24.300 --> 00:44:26.820
so it gets pretty dark down there
842
00:44:26.820 --> 00:44:29.130
and that ends up for, you know,
843
00:44:29.130 --> 00:44:31.980
not creating a perfect model.
844
00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:34.950
If we wanted to rectify this,
845
00:44:34.950 --> 00:44:37.860
we would probably do a lot more dives on this site.
846
00:44:37.860 --> 00:44:41.073
Unfortunately I think we were only able to do two.
847
00:44:42.090 --> 00:44:44.910
So what you see is kind of what we were able to collect.
848
00:44:44.910 --> 00:44:48.720
But if we spent more time at this shipwreck,
849
00:44:48.720 --> 00:44:51.120
took more photos, did more passes,
850
00:44:51.120 --> 00:44:55.083
we could create a more fleshed out model.
851
00:45:01.980 --> 00:45:04.440
Thanks for answering that for us.
852
00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:06.060
All right, next question.
853
00:45:06.060 --> 00:45:09.120
So I know you talked about how strobes
854
00:45:09.120 --> 00:45:10.740
will affect the color of things
855
00:45:10.740 --> 00:45:13.740
and sometimes how close you get affects the colors.
856
00:45:13.740 --> 00:45:17.340
Do you do any post-processing color correction
857
00:45:17.340 --> 00:45:20.883
or do you just mainly focus on what the strobes provide you?
858
00:45:21.780 --> 00:45:23.880
So with what we're doing now,
859
00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:27.300
and I'll actually kind of pull back up the video
860
00:45:27.300 --> 00:45:29.610
from earlier 'cause I think it might do a great job
861
00:45:29.610 --> 00:45:30.443
of showing this.
862
00:45:31.500 --> 00:45:32.333
Let's see.
863
00:45:40.474 --> 00:45:41.307
Here we go.
864
00:45:41.307 --> 00:45:44.310
Okay, so what you're seeing here,
865
00:45:44.310 --> 00:45:47.610
we actually don't use any strobes in this process.
866
00:45:47.610 --> 00:45:52.610
The cameras have a way of white balancing that can kind of
867
00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:57.540
push out some of that blue light
868
00:45:57.540 --> 00:46:01.740
and kind of level itself to kind of pull out the reds
869
00:46:01.740 --> 00:46:03.210
and oranges and yellows
870
00:46:03.210 --> 00:46:05.913
of what the camera is able to receive.
871
00:46:06.810 --> 00:46:09.780
Because of that, we don't have as much of a need
872
00:46:09.780 --> 00:46:11.163
to use strobes.
873
00:46:12.510 --> 00:46:16.980
Now does that mean the corals and the algaes
874
00:46:16.980 --> 00:46:19.740
and everything you're seeing in this model are true to life?
875
00:46:19.740 --> 00:46:21.120
Not quite.
876
00:46:21.120 --> 00:46:23.790
There is a certain amount of,
877
00:46:23.790 --> 00:46:25.110
I don't wanna say guessing,
878
00:46:25.110 --> 00:46:28.740
but it lacks, the camera is taking photos
879
00:46:28.740 --> 00:46:31.260
that it lacks information of.
880
00:46:31.260 --> 00:46:33.900
So we don't necessarily do anything
881
00:46:33.900 --> 00:46:35.190
as far as post-processing,
882
00:46:35.190 --> 00:46:38.340
but the camera itself is doing a lot of processing
883
00:46:38.340 --> 00:46:40.740
of the photos there in the moment
884
00:46:40.740 --> 00:46:42.930
to create something that's, you know,
885
00:46:42.930 --> 00:46:44.523
not just a wash of blue.
886
00:46:45.510 --> 00:46:47.940
I hope that answers your question.
887
00:46:47.940 --> 00:46:49.830
Feel free to, you know, shoot another one
888
00:46:49.830 --> 00:46:52.950
and I'm more than happy to talk about this later
889
00:46:52.950 --> 00:46:54.333
in a follow up.
890
00:46:56.400 --> 00:46:57.960
Thanks Donavon.
891
00:46:57.960 --> 00:46:59.580
I think we had a really interesting question
892
00:46:59.580 --> 00:47:03.510
that maybe you have to think about a little bit.
893
00:47:03.510 --> 00:47:08.510
But when you're taking these images
894
00:47:08.640 --> 00:47:09.870
over and over and over again,
895
00:47:09.870 --> 00:47:13.290
I'm sure that like fish swim in the way
896
00:47:13.290 --> 00:47:16.800
or maybe an urchins like hanging out,
897
00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:21.800
do you have to remove those like movable objects,
898
00:47:22.110 --> 00:47:26.700
I guess, those animals that aren't corals
899
00:47:26.700 --> 00:47:27.660
or sponges or algae,
900
00:47:27.660 --> 00:47:29.670
do you have to remove them from process
901
00:47:29.670 --> 00:47:31.920
or do you just avoid them altogether?
902
00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:33.820
So that's actually a great question.
903
00:47:34.740 --> 00:47:38.880
So when we're doing this process,
904
00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:42.060
ideally we're not photographing a location once,
905
00:47:42.060 --> 00:47:44.220
we're photographing it a couple of times.
906
00:47:44.220 --> 00:47:47.670
So if a fish kind of swims over an area
907
00:47:47.670 --> 00:47:49.860
but then kind of continues to move on,
908
00:47:49.860 --> 00:47:51.930
the software is gonna, you know, see that fish
909
00:47:51.930 --> 00:47:53.520
and be like, I don't know what this is,
910
00:47:53.520 --> 00:47:55.830
and it'll just kind of throw that out
911
00:47:55.830 --> 00:47:57.960
and it'll continue as normal.
912
00:47:57.960 --> 00:48:00.727
However, for something like an urchin or even,
913
00:48:00.727 --> 00:48:04.380
you know, if a fish kind of stays in the same spot,
914
00:48:04.380 --> 00:48:06.780
if you pass over that multiple times
915
00:48:06.780 --> 00:48:08.880
and it gets the same kind of data points,
916
00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:11.100
you can actually get some creatures
917
00:48:11.100 --> 00:48:13.233
in your mosaics and in your models.
918
00:48:18.690 --> 00:48:19.793
Very cool.
919
00:48:19.793 --> 00:48:23.400
Because I know whenever I use even just our photo mats
920
00:48:23.400 --> 00:48:26.257
that are of the reef bottom kids are like,
921
00:48:26.257 --> 00:48:28.950
"Where are the fish? Where are the fish?"
922
00:48:28.950 --> 00:48:30.720
So that's very interesting.
923
00:48:30.720 --> 00:48:32.370
All right.
924
00:48:32.370 --> 00:48:37.050
So how long will it take to process
925
00:48:37.050 --> 00:48:39.540
like all of the photogrammetry that you did
926
00:48:39.540 --> 00:48:40.830
for this past field season?
927
00:48:40.830 --> 00:48:44.310
How long do you think that that processing will take?
928
00:48:44.310 --> 00:48:46.050
That's a great question that, you know,
929
00:48:46.050 --> 00:48:47.730
I wish I had a crystal ball
930
00:48:47.730 --> 00:48:50.250
that could even tell me the answer
931
00:48:50.250 --> 00:48:52.720
since this is kind of a new thing
932
00:48:53.596 --> 00:48:54.780
we're not a hundred percent sure,
933
00:48:54.780 --> 00:48:59.780
but I believe quite firmly
934
00:48:59.790 --> 00:49:01.500
that we'll have it finished
935
00:49:01.500 --> 00:49:05.250
before the start of this field season for 2026.
936
00:49:05.250 --> 00:49:07.623
So within the next coming month.
937
00:49:12.870 --> 00:49:14.112
Do you think there's a plan
938
00:49:14.112 --> 00:49:16.770
to continue doing photogrammetry every single year?
939
00:49:16.770 --> 00:49:19.050
Just like how we do our other photo stations?
940
00:49:19.050 --> 00:49:22.380
Yeah, so this year actually NCRMP is coming to our site
941
00:49:22.380 --> 00:49:27.380
and so us as Flower Gardens won't be shooting our models,
942
00:49:27.480 --> 00:49:30.930
but we'll be assisting in taking theirs,
943
00:49:30.930 --> 00:49:34.630
and we'll use the models that they get
944
00:49:36.120 --> 00:49:38.913
on those crews to process them that way.
945
00:49:46.362 --> 00:49:47.195
All right.
946
00:49:47.195 --> 00:49:48.540
Thank you everyone for all the questions.
947
00:49:48.540 --> 00:49:51.906
There's so many that I'm having to like pick around
948
00:49:51.906 --> 00:49:54.171
and see what we can answer live.
949
00:49:54.171 --> 00:49:57.840
Okay Donavon, we have a quite a few questions about software
950
00:49:57.840 --> 00:50:01.380
and what software we use
951
00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:03.510
to analyze these photos
952
00:50:03.510 --> 00:50:05.604
or to analyze the photogrammetry
953
00:50:05.604 --> 00:50:06.437
and photomosaics.
954
00:50:18.060 --> 00:50:19.860
Can you hear me Donavon?
955
00:50:19.860 --> 00:50:21.630
Yep, you were chopping up there for a moment,
956
00:50:21.630 --> 00:50:23.193
but I think we're good now.
957
00:50:24.150 --> 00:50:25.710
Okay. Yeah.
958
00:50:25.710 --> 00:50:27.390
There was a couple questions about
959
00:50:27.390 --> 00:50:31.050
what software we use to process
960
00:50:31.050 --> 00:50:34.143
to stitch together everything to do the photogrammetry.
961
00:50:36.690 --> 00:50:40.473
Yeah, so let's go back to this one.
962
00:50:41.670 --> 00:50:46.670
Yeah, so the main programs that we're using are,
963
00:50:46.770 --> 00:50:48.683
well, okay to build the model
964
00:50:48.683 --> 00:50:51.660
it's called Agisoft Metashape.
965
00:50:51.660 --> 00:50:54.000
This is kind of become the gold standard
966
00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:57.393
for underwater photogrammetry.
967
00:51:00.840 --> 00:51:04.830
I am not too versed in why that is, but at least for,
968
00:51:04.830 --> 00:51:07.170
you know, on my side of things, we're using it
969
00:51:07.170 --> 00:51:10.860
because there's already a ton of documentation out there.
970
00:51:10.860 --> 00:51:12.860
So if I got a problem, you know, there's
971
00:51:23.490 --> 00:51:24.850
probably a forum or even a
972
00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:26.833
(indistinct)
973
00:51:26.833 --> 00:51:29.670
that has answered another program.
974
00:51:29.670 --> 00:51:32.250
But for analyzing the photomosaics,
975
00:51:32.250 --> 00:51:37.250
what they've been produced as mentioned in the presentation,
976
00:51:37.740 --> 00:51:39.120
we're using TagLab, which is
977
00:51:39.120 --> 00:51:42.693
what creates these nice colorful segmented images.
978
00:51:44.610 --> 00:51:47.250
And it uses a lot of automation
979
00:51:47.250 --> 00:51:49.800
to kind of streamline what we're doing.
980
00:51:49.800 --> 00:51:54.600
The idea of segmenting corals from photos is not new,
981
00:51:54.600 --> 00:51:57.390
but this software has allowed us to kind of step back
982
00:51:57.390 --> 00:52:01.260
into that and do it on a time scale that is, you know,
983
00:52:01.260 --> 00:52:05.853
much faster than what was previously.
984
00:52:08.310 --> 00:52:09.143
Yeah.
985
00:52:13.800 --> 00:52:16.710
Gotcha. Thanks for that explanation, Donavon.
986
00:52:16.710 --> 00:52:18.240
So this is gonna be our last question
987
00:52:18.240 --> 00:52:20.220
and I think it's a good one.
988
00:52:20.220 --> 00:52:24.120
So what do you see as the biggest barriers,
989
00:52:24.120 --> 00:52:26.010
either technical or otherwise
990
00:52:26.010 --> 00:52:29.490
that prevent photogrammetry collection with ROVs
991
00:52:29.490 --> 00:52:33.450
or through autonomous surface vehicles?
992
00:52:33.450 --> 00:52:35.190
Do you think it's more the human desire
993
00:52:35.190 --> 00:52:36.870
to collect the data firsthand
994
00:52:36.870 --> 00:52:41.870
or the marine robotic tools too expensive or hard to use?
995
00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:43.800
Do you have any thoughts about that?
996
00:52:44.760 --> 00:52:48.870
Ooh, that's a great question.
997
00:52:48.870 --> 00:52:50.820
I wouldn't say I'm the most verse to answer it,
998
00:52:50.820 --> 00:52:52.830
but I definitely have my opinions.
999
00:52:52.830 --> 00:52:56.613
I mean, as a scuba diver, I prefer my hands, you know.
1000
00:52:58.350 --> 00:53:01.770
Robots are great, they have their place for me
1001
00:53:01.770 --> 00:53:05.973
as someone who's got two thumbs and can get underwater.
1002
00:53:07.410 --> 00:53:10.770
I have much more of an ability to adapt and change
1003
00:53:10.770 --> 00:53:13.200
what I'm doing underwater versus something
1004
00:53:13.200 --> 00:53:16.770
that has been set up before it gets in the water.
1005
00:53:16.770 --> 00:53:20.520
But also when it comes to ROVs and stuff,
1006
00:53:20.520 --> 00:53:21.600
they're also the future.
1007
00:53:21.600 --> 00:53:24.660
I say that, but they are.
1008
00:53:24.660 --> 00:53:27.900
There are already some autonomous vehicles
1009
00:53:27.900 --> 00:53:30.630
that you can send into the water.
1010
00:53:30.630 --> 00:53:35.490
And they have special software
1011
00:53:35.490 --> 00:53:37.747
that you can actually use to say,
1012
00:53:37.747 --> 00:53:40.170
"Hey, go image this part of the reef."
1013
00:53:40.170 --> 00:53:44.880
and it'll go and do it, which is spectacular.
1014
00:53:44.880 --> 00:53:47.520
It's a much more risk averse way
1015
00:53:47.520 --> 00:53:49.710
to collect data versus diving.
1016
00:53:49.710 --> 00:53:52.650
And it's also a bit more time efficient of course,
1017
00:53:52.650 --> 00:53:54.660
because you don't have to wait for divers to, you know,
1018
00:53:54.660 --> 00:53:57.810
come up, spend some time on the surface, go back down.
1019
00:53:57.810 --> 00:54:00.190
You should just keep tossing that robot
1020
00:54:05.370 --> 00:54:06.778
back into the water.
1021
00:54:06.778 --> 00:54:07.611
Yeah.
1022
00:54:07.611 --> 00:54:11.356
But I hear things every now and then, so yeah.
1023
00:54:11.356 --> 00:54:12.189
Thank you, Donavon.
1024
00:54:12.189 --> 00:54:13.050
Sorry, I thought you stopped talking
1025
00:54:13.050 --> 00:54:14.400
and then I talked over you.
1026
00:54:16.318 --> 00:54:17.151
All good.
1027
00:54:17.151 --> 00:54:18.900
Again, thank you so much
1028
00:54:18.900 --> 00:54:21.390
for doing this program this evening.
1029
00:54:21.390 --> 00:54:24.210
Thanks for spending your evening with us.
1030
00:54:24.210 --> 00:54:28.323
I'm gonna go ahead and take back being presenter.
1031
00:54:34.080 --> 00:54:35.103
All right.
1032
00:54:36.117 --> 00:54:40.420
And also a big thank you to our audience
1033
00:54:41.430 --> 00:54:42.870
for being here today
1034
00:54:42.870 --> 00:54:47.190
because without you guys, we would not be here.
1035
00:54:47.190 --> 00:54:49.560
So thank you for attending
1036
00:54:49.560 --> 00:54:52.590
Stitching It Together Photogrammetry and Photomosaics.
1037
00:54:52.590 --> 00:54:54.510
This is just the first presentation
1038
00:54:54.510 --> 00:54:58.530
in the 2026 Flower Garden Banks Seaside Chat series.
1039
00:54:58.530 --> 00:55:00.630
So be sure to sign up for the next presentation,
1040
00:55:00.630 --> 00:55:02.580
which is on February 18th,
1041
00:55:02.580 --> 00:55:04.470
and you'll learn more about
1042
00:55:04.470 --> 00:55:07.050
how successful partnerships work together
1043
00:55:07.050 --> 00:55:10.173
to remove marine debris from within the sanctuary.
1044
00:55:18.390 --> 00:55:20.250
As we mentioned earlier, we will do our best
1045
00:55:20.250 --> 00:55:23.940
to answer the remaining questions that were not answered
1046
00:55:23.940 --> 00:55:27.570
during the webinar live and we'll email out those responses.
1047
00:55:27.570 --> 00:55:30.240
For those of you who would like to learn more on their own,
1048
00:55:30.240 --> 00:55:32.820
we've provided a document full of resources
1049
00:55:32.820 --> 00:55:34.860
in the handouts pane of the control panel.
1050
00:55:34.860 --> 00:55:36.570
And if you haven't downloaded that yet,
1051
00:55:36.570 --> 00:55:38.340
now would be a great time.
1052
00:55:38.340 --> 00:55:41.040
As always, we welcome your feedback and questions
1053
00:55:41.040 --> 00:55:43.020
and you can submit those by replying
1054
00:55:43.020 --> 00:55:45.900
to the follow-up email you receive after the webinar
1055
00:55:45.900 --> 00:55:50.343
or emailing us at flowergarden@noaa.gov.
1056
00:55:51.810 --> 00:55:53.880
Today's presentation has also been part
1057
00:55:53.880 --> 00:55:56.730
of the National Marine Sanctuary Webinar series.
1058
00:55:56.730 --> 00:55:59.430
While Seaside Chats just last one month,
1059
00:55:59.430 --> 00:56:02.700
our national webinar series continues throughout the year
1060
00:56:02.700 --> 00:56:04.470
to provide you with educational
1061
00:56:04.470 --> 00:56:07.560
and scientific expertise, resources,
1062
00:56:07.560 --> 00:56:10.620
and training to support ocean and climate literacy.
1063
00:56:10.620 --> 00:56:12.660
Be sure to check out the website for recordings
1064
00:56:12.660 --> 00:56:15.990
of past webinars and a schedule of what's to come.
1065
00:56:15.990 --> 00:56:17.820
As a reminder, we will share a recording
1066
00:56:17.820 --> 00:56:20.550
of this webinar via the National Marine Sanctuaries
1067
00:56:20.550 --> 00:56:23.643
and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Websites.
1068
00:56:24.930 --> 00:56:28.034
Following this webinar, attendees will receive a PDF copy
1069
00:56:28.034 --> 00:56:31.410
of a certificate of attendance that provides documentation
1070
00:56:31.410 --> 00:56:33.690
for one hour of professional development
1071
00:56:33.690 --> 00:56:35.610
for today's presentation.
1072
00:56:35.610 --> 00:56:39.180
This includes our Texas CPE provider number
1073
00:56:39.180 --> 00:56:41.700
for those of you who are Texas educators.
1074
00:56:41.700 --> 00:56:43.980
If you are an educator outside of Texas,
1075
00:56:43.980 --> 00:56:45.300
please use this certificate
1076
00:56:45.300 --> 00:56:48.540
to help get your hours approved in your district.
1077
00:56:48.540 --> 00:56:50.400
If you require additional information,
1078
00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:54.757
please contact us at flowergarden@noaa.gov.
1079
00:56:54.757 --> 00:56:58.260
Following this, there will also be a short evaluation
1080
00:56:58.260 --> 00:57:00.840
that should only take about three minutes to complete.
1081
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:04.023
We greatly appreciate any feedback you are willing to share.
1082
00:57:05.700 --> 00:57:08.040
Thank you once again for joining us this evening
1083
00:57:08.040 --> 00:57:11.073
and we look forward to seeing you in the future.