Walker, Brian K.

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Nova Southeastern UniversityNSUWorksOceanography Faculty Articles Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences10-1-2001NCRI 3-D Visualization of Coral Reef HabitatBrian K. WalkerNova Southeastern University, walkerb@nova.eduFind out more information about Nova Southeastern University and the Oceanographic Center.Follow this and additional works at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticlesPart of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences andMeteorology CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at NSUWorks. It has been acceptedfor inclusion in Oceanography Faculty Articles by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contactnsuworks@nova.edu.NSUWorks CitationBrian K. Walker. 2001. NCRI 3-D Visualization of Coral Reef Habitat .Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center Currents ,(4) : 4 -5. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/137.4ity’s director and an NSU professor. It hasgrown to eight tanks and about 200,000tilapia in various stages of growth. Currently,the fish farm has sales of about $7,000 to$10,000 a month, Baca said. The universitywants to initially invest about $180,000 inthe farm and double its size, adding at leastsix new tanks. “We are making a commit-ment,” Baca said. “This is a five-year leaseand we hope to continue it for many years sothis becomes a centerpiece of our freshwaterfish program.”  Baca said the facility wants tobranch out and farm shrimp and redfish.Besides tilapia, it now has about 150,000eels. According to Baca, tilapia is more pop-ular than other freshwater fish like catfishand rainbow trout. “Right now, we haveA new step in the operation of theDavie ARC (Aquaculture ResearchCenter) is underway.  Four years into a jointventure with Nova Southeastern Universityto grow fish in sanitized treatment tanks atthe town’s former sewer plant, Davie,Florida was poised to finally cut bait. Undera new, almost five-year lease, the town willno longer subsidize the AquacultureResearch Center.   The fish farm opened in 1997 at 6300SW 36th Court and started in two of thetown’s old sewage tanks. The sewer plant,which closed in 1988, was a target for van-dals and an eyesore. Its conversion into a fishfarm was unique. We call it the ultimate inrecycling,” said Bart Baca,  Ph.D., the facil-demand for three times what we can pro-duce,” Baca said. “The only way to meet thatdemand is to expand, invest, and take overthe lease,” he said. The mission of the ARC remains toaccomplish outstanding education andresearch in aquaculture. The NSU busi-ness school will partner with the NSUOCfor sound business management of aqua-culture operations and to develop aqua-culture business courses and programs toserve needs of students. Baca will be joinedby Phil Friedman, D.B.A., of the HuizengaSchool, who adds businessacumen andcontent to the curriculum, operations, andresearch.  Aquaculture Center Changes: More Fish, More Research, More Businessprograms to produce a triangulated irregularnetwork (TIN). This is a data structure thatrepresents a continuous surface through aseries of irregularly spaced points with valuesthat describe the surface at that point (ele-vation/depth). From these points, a networkof linked triangles forms the surface. Oncethis surface is created, sun shading, colorcoding, and/or draping georeferenced air-plane or satellite photography are all possi-ble. Special mapping and imaging softwareenable the model to be zoomed and tipped tothe desired orientation and processed intothree-dimensional perspectives.  Using 3-D imaging software, two-dimensional views can be used to createthree-dimensional anaglyphs (viewable withThe NSU Oceanographic Center deanand National Coral Reef Institute’s (NCRI)executive director, Richard Dodge, Ph.D,and NCRI Geographical InformationSpecialist, Brian Walker, have recently pub-lished a small photo layout in the Nov–Dec2001 edition of UnderWater Magazine by theAssociation of Diving ContractorsInternational pictorial titled “Visions inSonar.”  The photo layout (page 62) displaysa bathymetric survey recently conducted insoutheast Florida (Broward County) duringApril 2001 using the Laser Airborne DepthSounder (LADS) system. The survey encom-passed an area from North Miami-DadeCounty, through the entire Broward Countycoastline, to south Palm Beach County(approximately 43 km), and from the shoreeastward to depths of 130 feet (approximately2.5–3.5 km offshore). The data collectionwas funded by Broward County Departmentof Planning and Environmental Protection. The survey technique is a relatively newtechnology where a laser is shot from an air-plane. A distance is extrapolated from thetime it takes for that laser to return. Then,from the altitude of the plane, a depth belowmean sea level is calculated. The laser is lim-ited to relatively shallow water (less than150 ft.), however, it is an economically andtimely means of acquiring data. The resolu-tion of the data depends on the spacing ofthe laser returns. The Broward survey is four-meter resolution, which means a point wastaken approximately every four meters. Thedata is recorded as x, y, z (latitude, longitude,depth). These several million points arethen processed using a variety of computer3-D glasses). The anaglyph provides aunique view into the bathymetry that isunattainable by two-dimensional imagery.Multiple views are useful for identifying ben-thic features and habitats, including coralreefs. The well-known First, Second, andThird Reef terraces (5, 10, and 20 meterdepth) are well depicted, as well as previoussand mining events, artificial reefs, and otherseabed features like reef gaps and the oldNew River channel (just north of PortEverglades). This pictorial shows examplesof the various stages of the data presentation.This data is extremely useful for a variety ofapplications in various fields such as coastalmanagement, reef and geology science, andeven telecommunications engineering.  NCRI 3-D Visualization of Coral Reef HabitatThe Port Everglades entrance channel in Broward County, Florida. This is Laser Airborne Depth Sounder(LADS) bathymetry data overlayed by a 1:24,000 scale aerial photograph mosaic looking west. Featuresinclude the New River north of the channel; old breakwaters running east/west; and a prominent, activelyaccreting coral third reef in foreground. Image created by Brian Walker of the National Coral Reef Instituteand Nova Southeastern University.5carcasses, as well as coordinating rescues ofinjured manatees. The FWC also makescleaned manatee skeletons available, on asemipermanent loan basis, for public displayand education. This article describes theconstruction of a display case for a manateeskeleton, and the assembly of the skeletonin the case.The skeleton is from a female manatee(MNW0002) that died in Crystal River,Citrus County, Florida, in January 2001.  Atthe time of death, she was carrying a fetus,and she became trapped in the secondarycooling unit discharge pipe at the CrystalRiver Nuclear Power Plant. She was badlydecomposed when she was collected fornecropsy at the Marine MammalPathobiology Laboratory in St. Petersburg,Florida.  She was 321 cm long,  and her fetuswas 112 cm long.The skeleton was requested in 1999from the Marine Mammal PathobiologyLaboratory in St. Petersburg, Florida. AmyPaine, NSU grad student, took the initia-tive to learn how to request the skeleton.The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatuslatirostris) is a large aquatic marine mammalnative to Florida waters. It is a subspecies ofthe West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus).Manatees have large, gray-brown bodies thattaper to a flat, paddle-shaped tail. The averageadult manatee is about 10 feet long andweighs about 1,000 pounds. They have twoflippers with three to four nails on each, andtheir head and face are wrinkled withwhiskers on the snout. The manatee’s closestrelatives are the elephant and hyrax, a smallfurry animal that resembles a rodent.Manatees are believed to have evolved froma wading, plant-eating animal. The WestIndian manatee is related to the WestAfrican manatee, the Amazonian manatee,the dugong, and Steller’s sea cow, which washunted to extinction in 1768. Florida manatees have no natural ene-mies, and it is believed they can live 60 yearsor more. Many manatee mortalities arehuman-related. Most human-related mana-tee mortalities occur from collisions withwatercraft. Other causes of human-relatedmanatee mortalities include being crushedand/or drowned in canal locks and floodcontrol structures; ingestion of fish hooks,litter, and monofilament line; entanglementin crab trap lines; and vandalism. Ultimately,however, loss of habitat is the most seriousthreat facing manatees today. There areapproximately 3,000 Florida manatees left inthe United States.Florida West Indian manatees in theUnited States are protected under federallaw by the Marine Mammal Protection Actof 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of1973, both of which make it illegal toharass, hunt, capture, or kill any marinemammal. Florida manatees are alsoprotected by the Florida Manatee SanctuaryAct of 1978. Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission (FWC) biologistsare responsible for recovering, necropsying,and documenting all recovered manateeThe skeleton arrived at the NSUOceanographic Center in the spring of 2001,and the display was constructed during thesummer of 2001 by Edward O. Keith,Ph.D., and Jessica Davis, a high-schoolintern working with Keith. The first step wasto determine exactly how to construct anarmature to support the skeleton.  Severalprototypes were examined before arriving atthe final design.After the armature was painted a neu-tral color, the bones were assembled on it.The vertebrae and skull went on first, andthen the first few ribs.  Then the shouldergirdle was added, and finally, the last ribs.The ribs were held on to the armature withplastic ties.After the skeleton was assembled, theunfinished top of the base was covered withcloth arranged to simulate the animal’saquatic habitat, and then the clear plexiglasscover was placed on the base to complete thedisplay. Keith’s graduate level class in marinemammalogy assisted with the final assemblyand cover placement.  Manatee Skeleton at Oceanographic CenterJessica Davis with curved-spine armature, which wasthe design used in the final assembly.Once the base was completed, the armature was con-structed on it.Completed skeleton assembly with cloth draping and graduate level class in marine mammalogy.NSUOC Graduate Student Amy Paine with thecompleted display. Amy investigated the availability ofthe skeleton and learned how one could be obtainedfrom the Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory.

NCRI 3-D Visualization of Coral Reef Habitat

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NCRI 3-D Visualization of Coral Reef Habitat

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