Seabed classification of coral reef environments using 200 kHz single-beam echosounder and machine learning techniques

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Syahrul Purnawan, Henry M. Manik, Totok Hestirianoto, Khairul Amri, Myounghee Kang

2025 Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research Vol. 51 Issue 3 Article Cited by 6 SDG 14SDG 17 Quartile

Abstract

This study focused on seabed classification of coral reef environments in northern Aceh using a single-beam echo sounder (SBES). The area is characterized by rubble and coarse sediment interspersed with fine sediment from estuaries. Additionally, the acoustic features extracted using Sonar5-pro were the first and second bottom peaks (BP1, BP2), attack (Att), and decay (Dec). Target classes for sediment classification were constructed based on six textural categories, including gravel, sand, gravelly sand, muddy sand, sandy gravel, and slightly gravelly sand. The occurrence of gravel and mud fractions within classifications was a proxy for the presence of coral reef and potential fine sediment influx. Meanwhile, machine learning models, such as Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), were applied to classify seabed types. Feature selection significantly affected the model performance and SVM achieved the highest cross-validation accuracy, excelling in mixed sediment zones due to nonlinear boundary capabilities. RF performed with coarser substrates, while KNN reported moderate accuracy with specific feature sets. The results showed that the combination of BP1, BP2, Att, and Dec enhanced classification accuracy of habitat influenced by coral and estuarine environments to capture subtle textural variations often missed by traditional methods. © 2025 The Authors

Affiliations

Department of Marine Sciences, Faculty of Marine and Fisheries, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia; Marine Technology Study Program, Department of Marine Science and Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, IPB University, Bogor, 16680, Indonesia; Department of Marine Science and Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, IPB University, Bogor, 16680, Indonesia; Research Center for Fisheries, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Bogor, Cibinong, 16912, Indonesia; Department of Maritime Police and Production System, Gyeongsang National University, Tongyeong, 650-912, North Korea

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