Underwater photogrammetry is increasingly being used by marine ecologists because of its ability to produce accurate, spatially detailed, non-destructive measurements of benthic communities, coupled with affordability and ease of use. However, independent quality control, rigorous imaging system set-up, optimal geometry design and a strict modeling of the imaging process are essential to achieving a high degree of measurable accuracy and resolution. If a proper photogrammetric approach that enables the formal description of the propagation of measurement error and modeling uncertainties is not undertaken, statements regarding the statistical significance of the results are limited. In this paper, we tackle these critical topics, based on the experience gained in the Moorea Island Digital Ecosystem Avatar (IDEA) project, where we have developed a rigorous underwater photogrammetric pipeline for coral reef monitoring and change detection. Here, we discuss the need for a permanent, underwater geodetic network, which serves to define a temporally stable reference datum and a check for the time series of photogrammetrically derived three-dimensional (3D) models of the reef structure. We present a methodology to evaluate the suitability of several underwater camera systems for photogrammetric and multi-temporal monitoring purposes and stress the importance of camera network geometry to minimize the deformations of photogrammetrically derived 3D reef models. Finally, we incorporate the measurement and modeling uncertainties of the full photogrammetric process into a simple and flexible framework for detecting statistically significant changes among a time series of models.

中文翻译：

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潜水员使用水下摄影测量法和大地测量技术监测珊瑚礁

海洋生态学家正越来越多地使用水下摄影测量法，因为它具有产生底栖生物的准确，空间详细，无损测量的能力，而且价格适中且易于使用。但是，独立的质量控制，严格的成像系统设置，最佳的几何设计和成像过程的严格建模对于实现高度可测量的准确性和分辨率至关重要。如果没有采取能够正式描述测量误差传播和建模不确定性的适当摄影测量方法，则有关结果统计意义的陈述将受到限制。在本文中，我们基于Moorea岛数字生态系统头像（IDEA）项目中获得的经验来解决这些关键主题，在这里，我们开发了严格的水下摄影测量管道，用于珊瑚礁监测和变化检测。在这里，我们讨论了对永久性水下大地测量网络的需求，该网络可用于定义时间稳定的参考数据并检查摄影测量得出的珊瑚礁结构的三维（3D）模型的时间序列。我们提供了一种方法，可以评估几种水下相机系统用于摄影测量和多时间监视目的的适用性，并强调相机网络几何形状的重要性，以最大程度地减小摄影测量得出的3D礁石模型的变形。最后，