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Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Selected Works

Christopher N. Roman

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Articles 1 - 30 of 58

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Robust Course-Boundary Extraction Algorithms For Autonomous Vehicles, Chris Roman, Charles Reinholtz Jan 2013

Robust Course-Boundary Extraction Algorithms For Autonomous Vehicles, Chris Roman, Charles Reinholtz

Christopher N. Roman

Practical autonomous robotic vehicles require dependable methods for accurately identifying course or roadway boundaries. The authors have developed a method to reliably extract the boundary line using simple dynamic thresholding, noise filtering, and blob removal. This article describes their efforts to apply this procedure in developing an autonomous vehicle.


Autonomous Underwater Vehicles As Tools For Deep-Submergence Archaeology, Christopher N. Roman, Ian Roderick Mather Jan 2013

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles As Tools For Deep-Submergence Archaeology, Christopher N. Roman, Ian Roderick Mather

Christopher N. Roman

Marine archaeology beyond the capabilities of scuba divers is a technologically enabled field. The tool suite includes ship-based systems such as towed side-scan sonars and remotely operated vehicles, and more recently free-swimming autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Each of these platforms has various imaging and mapping capabilities appropriate for specific scales and tasks. Broadly speaking, AUVs are becoming effective tools for locating, identifying, and surveying archaeological sites. This paper discusses the role of AUVs in this suite of tools, outlines some specific design criteria necessary to maximize their utility in the field, and presents directions for future developments. Results are presented …


Development Of A New Lagrangian Float For Studying Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Alex Schwithal, Chris Roman Jan 2013

Development Of A New Lagrangian Float For Studying Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Alex Schwithal, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents an overview and initial testing results for a shallow water Lagrangian float designed to operate in coastal settings. The presented effort addresses the two main characteristics of the shallow coastal environment that preclude the direct of use of many successfully deep water floats, namely the higher variation of water densities near the coast compared with the open ocean and the highly varied bathymetry. Our idea is to develop a high capacity dynamic auto-ballasting system that is able to compensate for the expected seawater density variation over a broad range of water temperatures and salinities while using measurements …


Development Of A New Lagrangian Float For Studying Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Alex Schwithal, Chris Roman Jan 2013

Development Of A New Lagrangian Float For Studying Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Alex Schwithal, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents an overview and initial testing results for a shallow water Lagrangian float designed to operate in coastal settings. The presented effort addresses the two main characteristics of the shallow coastal environment that preclude the direct of use of many successfully deep water floats, namely the higher variation of water densities near the coast compared with the open ocean and the highly varied bathymetry. Our idea is to develop a high capacity dynamic auto-ballasting system that is able to compensate for the expected seawater density variation over a broad range of water temperatures and salinities while using measurements …


Deep Sea Underwater Robotic Exploration In The Ice-Covered Arctic Ocean With Auvs, Clayton Kunz, Chris Murphy, Richard Camilli, Hanumant Singh, John Bailey, Ryan M. Eustice, Chris Roman, Michael Jakuba, Claire Willis, Taichi Sato, Ko-Ichi Nakamura, Robert A. Sohn Jan 2013

Deep Sea Underwater Robotic Exploration In The Ice-Covered Arctic Ocean With Auvs, Clayton Kunz, Chris Murphy, Richard Camilli, Hanumant Singh, John Bailey, Ryan M. Eustice, Chris Roman, Michael Jakuba, Claire Willis, Taichi Sato, Ko-Ichi Nakamura, Robert A. Sohn

Christopher N. Roman

The Arctic seafloor remains one of the last unexplored areas on Earth. Exploration of this unique environment using standard remotely operated oceanographic tools has been obstructed by the dense Arctic ice cover. In the summer of 2007 the Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition (AGAVE) was conducted with the express intention of understanding aspects of the marine biology, chemistry and geology associated with hydrothermal venting on the section of the mid-ocean ridge known as the Gakkel Ridge. Unlike previous research expeditions to the Arctic the focus was on high resolution imaging and sampling of the deep seafloor. To accomplish our goals we …


Submarine Volcanism In The Straits Of Sicily, Steven Carey, Katherine Bell, Michael Marani, Mauro Rosi, Edward Baker, Chris Roman, Marco Pistolesi, Joshua Kelly Jan 2013

Submarine Volcanism In The Straits Of Sicily, Steven Carey, Katherine Bell, Michael Marani, Mauro Rosi, Edward Baker, Chris Roman, Marco Pistolesi, Joshua Kelly

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Development Of High-Resolution Underwater Mapping Techniques, Christopher N. Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, J. Ian Vaughn, Stefan Williams, Oscar Pizarro, Ariell Friedman, Daniel Steinberg Jan 2013

Development Of High-Resolution Underwater Mapping Techniques, Christopher N. Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, J. Ian Vaughn, Stefan Williams, Oscar Pizarro, Ariell Friedman, Daniel Steinberg

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Maritime History Of Anzac Cove, Michael L. Brennan, Dwight Coleman, Christopher N. Roman, Tufan Turanli, Dan Davis, Alexis Catsambis, James Moore, Maureen Merrigan, Brennan Bajdek, Daniel Whitesell, Robert Ballard Jan 2013

Maritime History Of Anzac Cove, Michael L. Brennan, Dwight Coleman, Christopher N. Roman, Tufan Turanli, Dan Davis, Alexis Catsambis, James Moore, Maureen Merrigan, Brennan Bajdek, Daniel Whitesell, Robert Ballard

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Exploration Of The Kolumbo Volcanic Rift Zone, Steven Carey, Katherine L. Croff Bell, Paraskevi Nomikou, Georges Vougioukalakis, Christopher N. Roman, Kathleen Cantner, Konstantina Bejelou, Maria Bourbouli, Julie Fero Martin Jan 2013

Exploration Of The Kolumbo Volcanic Rift Zone, Steven Carey, Katherine L. Croff Bell, Paraskevi Nomikou, Georges Vougioukalakis, Christopher N. Roman, Kathleen Cantner, Konstantina Bejelou, Maria Bourbouli, Julie Fero Martin

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Exploration Of The Anaximander Mud Volcanoes, Timothy M. Shank, Santiago Herrera, Walter Cho, Christopher N. Roman, Katherine L. Croff Bell Jan 2013

Exploration Of The Anaximander Mud Volcanoes, Timothy M. Shank, Santiago Herrera, Walter Cho, Christopher N. Roman, Katherine L. Croff Bell

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Continued Exploration Of The Santorini Volcanic Field And Cretan Basin, Aegean Sea, Katherine L. C. Bell, Paraskevi Nomikou, Steven N. Carey, Eleni Stathopoulou, Paraskevi Polymenakou, Athanasios Godelitsas, Chris Roman, Michelle Parks Jan 2013

Continued Exploration Of The Santorini Volcanic Field And Cretan Basin, Aegean Sea, Katherine L. C. Bell, Paraskevi Nomikou, Steven N. Carey, Eleni Stathopoulou, Paraskevi Polymenakou, Athanasios Godelitsas, Chris Roman, Michelle Parks

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


The Development Of High-Resolution Seafloor Mapping Techniques, Chris Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, J. Vaughn, Clara Smart, Bertrand Douillard, Stefan Williams Jan 2013

The Development Of High-Resolution Seafloor Mapping Techniques, Chris Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, J. Vaughn, Clara Smart, Bertrand Douillard, Stefan Williams

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Coastal Exploration Of The Southern Black Sea Off Ereğli And Sinop, Turkey, Michael L. Brennan, Dan Davis, Chris Roman, Ilya V. Buynevich, Alexis Catsambis, Meko Kofahl, Maureen Merrigan, Suna Tuzun, Muhammet Duman, Derya Urkmez, J. Ian Vaughn, Tufan Turanli Jan 2013

Coastal Exploration Of The Southern Black Sea Off Ereğli And Sinop, Turkey, Michael L. Brennan, Dan Davis, Chris Roman, Ilya V. Buynevich, Alexis Catsambis, Meko Kofahl, Maureen Merrigan, Suna Tuzun, Muhammet Duman, Derya Urkmez, J. Ian Vaughn, Tufan Turanli

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Landscape Imaging Of The Southeast Aegean Sea, Michael L. Brennan, Tufan Turanli, Bridget Buxton, Katherine L. Croff Bell, Christopher N. Roman, Meko Kofahl, Orkan Koyagasioglu, Daniel Whitesell, Thomas Chamberlain, Richard Sullivan, Robert Ballard Jan 2013

Landscape Imaging Of The Southeast Aegean Sea, Michael L. Brennan, Tufan Turanli, Bridget Buxton, Katherine L. Croff Bell, Christopher N. Roman, Meko Kofahl, Orkan Koyagasioglu, Daniel Whitesell, Thomas Chamberlain, Richard Sullivan, Robert Ballard

Christopher N. Roman

No abstract provided.


Terrain Constrained Stereo Correspondence, Gabrielle Inglis, Chris Roman Dec 2012

Terrain Constrained Stereo Correspondence, Gabrielle Inglis, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

There is a persistent need in the oceanographic community for accurate three dimensional reconstructions of seafloor structures. To meet this need underwater mapping techniques have expanded to include the use of stereo vision and high frequency multibeam sonar for mapping scenes 10's to 100's of square meters in size. Both techniques have relative advantages and disadvantages that depend on the task at hand and the desired accuracy. In this paper, we develop a method to constrain the often problematic stereo correspondence search to small sections of the image that correspond to estimated ranges along the epipolar lines calculated from coregistered …


Application Of Structured Light Imaging For High Resolution Mapping Of Underwater Archaeological Sites, Chris Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, James Rutter Dec 2012

Application Of Structured Light Imaging For High Resolution Mapping Of Underwater Archaeological Sites, Chris Roman, Gabrielle Inglis, James Rutter

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents results from recent work using structured light laser profile imaging to create high resolution bathymetric maps of underwater archaeological sites. Documenting the texture and structure of submerged sites is a difficult task and many applicable acoustic and photographic mapping techniques have recently emerged. This effort was completed to evaluate laser profile imaging in comparison to stereo imaging and high frequency multibeam mapping. A ROV mounted camera and inclined 532 nm sheet laser were used to create profiles of the bottom that were then merged into maps using platform navigation data. These initial results show very promising resolution …


Marine Investigations Of Greece's Santorini Volcanic Field, Haraldur Sigurdsson, Steven Carey, Matina Alexandri, Georges Vougioukalakis, Katherine Croff, Chris Roman, Dimitris Sakellariou, Christos Anagnostou, Grigoris Rousakis, Chrysanti Ioakim, Aleka Goguo, Dionysis Ballas, Thanassis Misaridis, Paraskevi Nomikou Dec 2012

Marine Investigations Of Greece's Santorini Volcanic Field, Haraldur Sigurdsson, Steven Carey, Matina Alexandri, Georges Vougioukalakis, Katherine Croff, Chris Roman, Dimitris Sakellariou, Christos Anagnostou, Grigoris Rousakis, Chrysanti Ioakim, Aleka Goguo, Dionysis Ballas, Thanassis Misaridis, Paraskevi Nomikou

Christopher N. Roman

The most recent major explosive eruption of the Santorini volcano in Greece—around 3600 years before present (B.P.), often referred to as the Minoan eruption—is one of the largest volcanic events known in historical time and has been the subject of intense volcanological and archeological studies [Druitt et al., 1999]. The submarine volcano Kolumbo, located seven kilometers northeast of Santorini and associated with Santorini's tectonic system, erupted explosively in 1650 A.D., resulting in fatalities on the island of Thera [Fouqué, 1879]. A large fraction of the erupted products from the Minoan eruption has been deposited in the …


Variable Morphologic Expression Of Volcanic, Tectonic, And Hydrothermal Processes At Six Hydrothermal Vent Fields In The Lau Back-Arc Basin, Vicki Lynn Ferrini, Margaret K. Tivey, Suzanne M. Carbotte, Fernando Martinez, Chris Roman Dec 2012

Variable Morphologic Expression Of Volcanic, Tectonic, And Hydrothermal Processes At Six Hydrothermal Vent Fields In The Lau Back-Arc Basin, Vicki Lynn Ferrini, Margaret K. Tivey, Suzanne M. Carbotte, Fernando Martinez, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

Ultrahigh-resolution bathymetric maps (25 cm grid) are used to quantify the physical dimensions of and spatial relationships between tectonic, volcanic, and hydrothermal features at six hydrothermal vent fields in the Lau back-arc basin. Supplemented with near-bottom photos, and nested within regional DSL-120A side-scan sonar data, these maps provide insight into the nature of hydrothermal systems along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center (ELSC) and Valu Fa Ridge (VFR). Along-axis transitions evident in localized volcanic morphology and tectonic characteristics include a change from broad low-relief volcanic domes (hundreds of meters wide,tall) that are dominated by pillow and lobate lava morphologies and are …


Concept Tests For A New Wire Flying Vehicle Designed To Achieve High Horizontal Resolution Profiling In Deep Water, Chris Roman, Dave Hebert Dec 2012

Concept Tests For A New Wire Flying Vehicle Designed To Achieve High Horizontal Resolution Profiling In Deep Water, Chris Roman, Dave Hebert

Christopher N. Roman

Efficiently profiling the water column to achieve both high vertical and horizontal resolution from a moving vessel in deep water is difficult. Current solutions, such as CTD tow-yos, moving vessel profilers, and undulating tow bodies, are limited by ship speed or water depth. As a consequence, it is difficult to obtain oceanographic sections with sufficient resolution to identify many relevant scales over the deeper sections of the water column. This paper presents a new concept for a profiling vehicle that slides up and down a towed wire in a controlled manner using the lift created by wing foils. The wings …


Seabed Auv Offers New Platform For High-Resolution Imaging, Hanumant Singh, Ali Can, Ryan Eustice, Steve Lerner, Neil Mcphee, Chris Roman Dec 2012

Seabed Auv Offers New Platform For High-Resolution Imaging, Hanumant Singh, Ali Can, Ryan Eustice, Steve Lerner, Neil Mcphee, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

A number of marine biological, geological, and archaeological applications share the need for high-resolution optical and acoustic imaging of the sea floor [Ballard et al., 2002; Greene et al., 2000; Shank et al., 2002]. In particular,there is a compelling need to conduct studies in depths beyond those considered reasonable for divers (∼50 m) down to depths at the shelf edge and continental slope (∼1000–2000 m). Some of the constraints associated with such work include the requirement to work off of small coastal vessels or fishing boats of opportunity,and the requirement for the vehicle components to be air-shippable to enable inexpensive …


1891 Eruption Of Foerstner Volcano (Pantelleria, Sicily): Insights Into The Vent Structure Of Basaltic Balloon Eruptions, J. Kelly, S. Carey, K. Croff-Bell, C. Roman, M. Rosi, M. Marani, M. Pistolesi, E. Baker Dec 2012

1891 Eruption Of Foerstner Volcano (Pantelleria, Sicily): Insights Into The Vent Structure Of Basaltic Balloon Eruptions, J. Kelly, S. Carey, K. Croff-Bell, C. Roman, M. Rosi, M. Marani, M. Pistolesi, E. Baker

Christopher N. Roman

AGU session number V21A-2750.


A Pipeline For Structured Light Bathymetric Mapping, Gabrielle Inglis, Clara Smart, J. Vaughn, Chris Roman Oct 2012

A Pipeline For Structured Light Bathymetric Mapping, Gabrielle Inglis, Clara Smart, J. Vaughn, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

This paper details a methodology for using structured light laser imaging to create high resolution bathymetric maps of the sea floor. The system includes a pair of stereo cameras and an inclined 532nm sheet laser mounted to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). While a structured light system generally requires a single camera, a stereo vision set up is used here for in-situ calibration of the laser system geometry by triangulating points on the laser line. This allows for quick calibration at the survey site and does not require precise jigs or a controlled environment. A batch procedure to extract the …


New Frontiers In Ocean Exploration: The 2010 And 2011 E/V Nautilus Field Seasons, K. Bell, R. Ballard, D. Coleman, C. Roman, M. Brennan Feb 2012

New Frontiers In Ocean Exploration: The 2010 And 2011 E/V Nautilus Field Seasons, K. Bell, R. Ballard, D. Coleman, C. Roman, M. Brennan

Christopher N. Roman

The Exploration Vessel NAUTILUS is creating a focus of international leadership for the development and integration of leading-edge technologies, educational programs, field operations, and public outreach programs for ocean exploration, in partnership with NOAA, National Geographic Society, Office of Naval Research, Sea Research Foundation and other sponsors. To do so, the program uses a complement of deep submergence vehicle systems and telepresence technologies to engage scientists, educators and the public, both at sea and ashore, allowing them to become integral members of the on-board exploration team. Two four-month field seasons were undertaken aboard NAUTILUS (2010-2011) to the Black, Aegean and …


An Air-Sea Flux Experiment For 2030, P. Cornillon, D. Farmer, C. Roman, I. Ginis, S. Grilli Feb 2012

An Air-Sea Flux Experiment For 2030, P. Cornillon, D. Farmer, C. Roman, I. Ginis, S. Grilli

Christopher N. Roman

In January 2011 the University of Rhode Island held a two day retreat for faculty and research scientists interested in where the field is going over the next 20 years. The retreat began with presentations detailing the current status and anticipated advances in genetics, nanotechnology, numerical modeling and robotics. Participants then outlined scientific problems that they expect will exist in 2030. This was followed by breakout sessions in which participants discussed experiments, based on anticipated technological advances, that might be undertaken in the 2030 time frame to address some of the identified problems. In this presentation we outline one of …


New Frontiers In Ocean Exploration: The 2011 E/V Nautilus Field Season, K. Bell, R. Ballard, D. Coleman, C. Roman, M. Brennan, T. Turanli, M. Duman, S. Carey, P. Nomikou, M. Marani, M. Rosi, J. Austin, M. Canals, J. Karson, L. Mayer, Y. Makovsky Dec 2011

New Frontiers In Ocean Exploration: The 2011 E/V Nautilus Field Season, K. Bell, R. Ballard, D. Coleman, C. Roman, M. Brennan, T. Turanli, M. Duman, S. Carey, P. Nomikou, M. Marani, M. Rosi, J. Austin, M. Canals, J. Karson, L. Mayer, Y. Makovsky

Christopher N. Roman

In the summer of 2011, the Exploration Vessel NAUTILUS is undertaking a four-month expedition to the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, and North Atlantic Ocean. The primary goal of the NAUTILUS is to create a focus of international leadership for the development and integration of leading-edge technologies, educational programs, field operations, and public outreach programs for ocean exploration, in partnership with NOAA, National Geographic Society, Office of Naval Research, and other sponsors. To do so, the program uses a complement of deep submergence vehicle systems and “telepresence” technologies to engage scientists, educators and the public, both at sea and ashore, …


High Resolution Sea Floor Bathymetry Using High Frequency Multibeam Sonar And Structured Light Laser Imaging, C. Roman, G. Inglis, C. Smart, I. Vaughn, S. Carey Dec 2011

High Resolution Sea Floor Bathymetry Using High Frequency Multibeam Sonar And Structured Light Laser Imaging, C. Roman, G. Inglis, C. Smart, I. Vaughn, S. Carey

Christopher N. Roman

Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor with centimeter level resolution can be produced by underwater vehicles using multibeam sonars and structured light laser imaging. Over spatial scales up to tens of thousands of square meters it is possible to produce maps gridded to sub centimeter levels. This level of accuracy demands detailed treatments of the sensor relative data, the vehicle navigation data and the vehicle to sensor position and rotational offsets. The presented results will show comparisons between these two sensor modalities. Data have a been collected during recent field programs to the Kolumbo volcanic crater and the Southern …


Remote Analysis Of Grain Size Characteristic In Submarine Pyroclastic Deposits From Kolumbo Volcano, Greece, C. Smart, D. P. Whitesell, C. Roman, S. Carey Dec 2011

Remote Analysis Of Grain Size Characteristic In Submarine Pyroclastic Deposits From Kolumbo Volcano, Greece, C. Smart, D. P. Whitesell, C. Roman, S. Carey

Christopher N. Roman

Grain size characteristics of pyroclastic deposits provide valuable information about source eruption energetics and depositional processes. Maximum size and sorting are often used to discriminate between fallout and sediment gravity flow processes during explosive eruptions. In the submarine environment the collection of such data in thick pyroclastic sequences is extremely challenging and potentially time consuming. A method has been developed to extract grain size information from stereo images collected by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). In the summer of 2010 the ROV Hercules collected a suite of stereo images from a thick pumice sequence in the caldera walls of Kolumbo …


Detection Of Diffuse Sea Floor Venting Using Structured Light Imaging, G. Inglis, C. Smart, C. Roman, S. Carey Dec 2011

Detection Of Diffuse Sea Floor Venting Using Structured Light Imaging, G. Inglis, C. Smart, C. Roman, S. Carey

Christopher N. Roman

Efficiently identifying and localizing diffuse sea floor venting at hydrothermal and cold seep sites is often difficult. Actively venting fluids are usually identified by a temperature induced optical shimmering seen during direct visual inspections or in video data collected by vehicles working close to the sea floor. Relying on such direct methods complicates establishing spatial relations between areas within a survey covering a broad area. Our recent work with a structured light laser system has shown that venting can also be detected in the image data in an automated fashion. A structured light laser system consists of a camera and …


Development Of High Resolution Sea Floor Mapping Tools And Techniques, Gabrielle Inglis, Ian Vaughn, Clara Smart, Chris Roman Apr 2011

Development Of High Resolution Sea Floor Mapping Tools And Techniques, Gabrielle Inglis, Ian Vaughn, Clara Smart, Chris Roman

Christopher N. Roman

There is a persistent need for high resolution photographic and bathymetric maps of the sea floor for many research areas in marine geology, biology and archaeology. This poster will present recent work using high frequency multibeam sonars, stereo vision and structured light laser imaging techniques to create maps with centimeter resolution for these applications. This research involves the development of new image and sonar processing techniques that combat the typical difficulties of imperfect navigation information, limited sensor ranges and adverse environmental conditions associated with using marine robotic vehicles in the ocean. Data for this work has been collected with the …


Pre-Eruption Pressure, Temperature And Volatile Content Of Rhyolite Magma From The 1650 Ad Eruption Of Kolumbo Submarine Volcano, Greece, K. Cantner, S. Carey, H. Sigurdsson, G. Vougioukalakis, P. Nomikou, C. Roman, K. Bell, M. Alexandri Dec 2010

Pre-Eruption Pressure, Temperature And Volatile Content Of Rhyolite Magma From The 1650 Ad Eruption Of Kolumbo Submarine Volcano, Greece, K. Cantner, S. Carey, H. Sigurdsson, G. Vougioukalakis, P. Nomikou, C. Roman, K. Bell, M. Alexandri

Christopher N. Roman

Biotite-bearing, crystal-poor rhyolite magma was the predominant magma type discharged during the 1650 AD explosive eruption of Kolumbo submarine volcano, Greece. The eruption produced thick sequences of pumice deposits (~100 m) in the upper crater walls of the volcano, but also led to the formation of extensive pumice rafts that were dispersed throughout the southern Aegean Sea, and subaerial tephra fallout as far east as Turkey. Preliminary estimates of pre-eruption volatile contents have been determined using the volatile-by-difference method on plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions and yield an average value of 6.0 wt.%. This corresponds to a pre-eruption storage pressure of 180 …