One of the main recommendations of the workshop on “Multibeam Backscatter – State of the Technology, Tools, & Techniques” held in Rome on 5 May 2013, prior to the GeoHab conference, was the need for standardization of the acquisition and processing of sonar backscatter data provided by multibeam echosounder. The BSWG was created in order to address this need.

We have established a multidisciplinary research consortium of internationally recognised experts in marine acoustics and geophysics, spatial analysis and ocean environmental science, from New Zealand (NIWA), France (Géosciences Rennes/CNRS, IFREMER), Germany (GEOMAR) Australia (IMAS) and the U.S. (UNH-CCOM).