Surface processes

Abstract

Still in recent past, benthic sampling techniques, using box corers, Van-Veen grabs or dredges, were the most common tools for biologists and geologists to examine the surface processes occurring at the present-day sea-floor and to ground-truth geophysical data sets (sidescan sonar, multibeam,...). In the last decade, the increasing Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)-based exploration and visualization of deep-water environments revealed a large number of new insights in this underwater world. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.