High fidelity digital terrain modelling for the reconstruction of the Antarctic sea floor

Shape-based modelling is a general approach to surface representation, which has a great importance in the specific context of the Antarctic sea floor reconstruction, where measurements can involve critical operations. Here, a method is proposed where shape-based surface reconstruction is achieved performing a geometric reasoning on the raw data to delineate a shape structure on which the final surface model can be built. Data of the Antarctic sea floor are collected by surveys carried out along parallel courses during which the depth of the sea is measured at almost regular intervals. The seabed is then represented by a set of profiles, corresponding to almost vertical cross sections. The surface reconstruction is performed in three steps. First, a shape-based simplification is carried out on the profiles, using a combination of the wavelet theory and the classical Douglas and Peucker algorithm. The second step consists of finding similarities in the morphology of adjacent profiles, which may suggest the presence of surface features, such as ridges and ravines. Finally, the deduced surface features are used to build a kind of skeleton on which the most appropriate triangulation can be constructed.