High-resolution in situ holographic recording and analysis of marine organisms and particles (HOLOMAR)

Abstract

The authors report on the development of a fully-functioning, prototype, underwater holographic camera (holo-camera) for holographic recording of large-volumes of sea water containing marine plankton and seston within the upper water column. The overriding benefit of holographic imaging over other measurement techniques is that it allows non-intrusive and non-destructive in-situ, recording of living organisms and inanimate particles in the natural environment. Because of the inherently high resolution of holography, its three-dimensional imaging properties and the ability to perform "optical sectioning" on the image, it allows identification of particular organisms together with the extraction of size and relative positional information. This information, in turn, affords the ability to gain knowledge of the behaviour of marine biological communities, their relationship with each other and with the particles with which they interact.