by Cheryl Smithem
Recently, four College of Charleston undergraduate and graduate geology students, who use cutting-edge ocean floor mapping technology, swept the research competition at the U.S. Hydro Conference, winning the top three awards. The students presented professional-quality seafloor research during the U.S. Hydrographic Society’s annual meeting with findings abstracted in poster format. The winners collected $2,000 in scholarships and will have their work published in CARIS Coastlines marine GIS mapping newsletter.
Robin Banner
Kyle Ford and Montgomery Taylor
Matt Rittinghouse
Undergraduate Robin Banner won first place, Kyle Ford and Montgomery Taylor took second place and the third place winner was graduate student Matt Rittinghouse.
Leslie Sautter, associate professor of geology, who prepared and advised the students says, “We’re so proud of our students. Throughout the conference, numerous vendors and consultant firm representatives approached me about developing partnerships with the College’s BEAMS program, and wanted to meet and interview our students.”
All the winners are enrolled in the Introduction to Seafloor Mapping course, which is the foundation course for the BEAMS Program (BEnthic Acoustic Mapping and Survey Program.) The benthic zone is the habitat area on the seafloor, and includes the sediment and sub-surface layers. To map the seafloor, students used a multibeam sonar seafloor bathymetry (underwater topography) software called CARIS HIPS which integrates hardware, software, and data to capture, analyze, display and interpret geographic information. Watch a video from a research cruise students participated in.
“This course is very popular, because students are using an innovative technology,” Sautter explains. “Knowing this particular software is a tremendous spring-board into the world of seafloor mapping and marine geophysics, as well as the world of ‘hydrography’ — mapping and charting navigable waters. Every BEAMS Team student who has graduated and who has wished to pursue a career as a marine surveyor has been successful in finding an internship, job or graduate program.”
First place winner Robin Banner, is “thrilled to receive this award and to have experts in the hydrographic field praise my work.” She is now more motivated to pursue a career in coastal management and marine mapping.
Banner conducted her research on the San Juan Seamount. “I processed multibeam data from this now submerged seamount in order to make a Base Surface map of the area and prove it was an island when it formed. Using the bathymetry and backscatter collected in a 2011 cruise, I concluded that the seamount has subsided approximately 550 – 700 meters since its formation 19 million years ago.” Banner plans to gain a Ph.D. in Oceanography with a concentration in coastal spatial planning and mapping – in part due to the influence of the courses at the College.
Rittinghouse’s research, Predictive Habitat Modeling of a Submarine Ridge off of the West Florida Escarpment, gave him drive to continue his research and deepened his feeling of personal investment. “I previously had the opportunity to go out into the Gulf of Mexico and assist in data collection used in this research. Having spent the semester working and learning with Dr. Sautter, staff from CARIS, and several BEAMS Team alumni who now work for CARIS, I was able to take raw, unprocessed data directly from the ship and turn it into a predictive model for coral habitat. Receiving a scholarship award from the U.S. Hydrographic Society is a great honor, but even more rewarding was presenting my research to so many active professionals.”
After learning to use professional CARIS software, whose producer is in partnership with the College, student teams initiated their research using data acquired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). NGDC provides open-access raw bathymetric data, and each student or pair chose a site that interested them.
According to Sautter, “Creating a research poster is a huge task. It takes many hours of coaching and frequently, several drafts. The written content on a poster is similar to a short, concise paper and students must make significant observations – and interpretations from their observations. This analysis and interpretation is what separates them from being map makers – they become scientists who utilize the maps and new technology.”
Sautter expressed appreciation to BEAMS partners, the College’s School of Sciences and Mathematics, the geology department, CARIS, NOAA, and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium who all provide funds, enable research, travel and who have partnered with the College to develop the BEAMS program.
To learn more about the BEAMs Team, contact Sautter via her email, sautterl@cofc.edu.
