MBARI creates and globally scales the visionary technologies required to explore, map, and understand our changing ocean.
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MBARI is a non-profit oceanographic research center advancing marine science and engineering to understand our changing ocean.
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Learn about our technologies.
David W. Caress, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Christian dos Santos Ferreira, Center of Marine Environmental Science (MARUM) of Universität Bremen
Dale N. Chayes, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center University of New Hampshire
MB-System is an open source software package for the processing and display of seafloor mapping data, particularly bathymetry and backscatter imagery data derived from multibeam, interferometry, and sidescan sonars. MB-System is freely available for download as source code that can be built and installed on Linux and OS-X computers. Documentation, tutorials, and FAQ are provided in this website. The MB-System discussion email lists allows users to engage with MB-System developers and other users from around the world.
MB-System was originally developed in 1993 at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO) of Columbia University by David W. Caress and Dale N. Chayes with support from the Marine Geology and Geophysics program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
MB-System is now a collaborative effort between the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), the Center of Marine Environmental Science (MARUM) at Universität Bremen, and the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) at the University of New Hampshire. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has provided the primary support for MB-System through MBARI since 1998. NSF supported MB-System development from its inception in 1993 through 2018.
Current Distribution Release Status
Note: MB-System is under active development and is updated periodically. This (usually) results in improved performance and additional capabilities, but often means that the documentation (including web pages) lag somewhat behind the actual software. Please bear with us and email your comments and suggestions to the MB-System user’s discussion list.
Directory
Principal Engineer
Principal Investigator
Senior Research Specialist
Senior Software Engineer
Embedded Systems Group Lead
Dale Chayes – Affiliate Professor, UNH; Christian d. S. Ferreira – Seafloor Imaging Specialist, MARUM