Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Dundee
The Battle of the Atlantic Project. (Interactive visualisation of sub-sea battlefield using data acquired from Sonar technology, 2012-13)
During World War Two, a large part of the Battle of the Atlantic took place in the waters off North Carolina's Outer Banks. The patrol of German U-boats along Cape Hatteras marked the closest that the war came to the American mainland. The remains of Allied, Axis, and merchant vessels can still be found on the seabed along the North Carolina coast. They form a unique phenomenon: an underwater battlefield.
An interactive 3D visualisation tool was adapted to effectively display the wrecks which lie in close proximity and range from being in a fairly intact condition to scattered debris protruding from the seabed. The latter required further research and refinement of techniques: Occlusion objects and Locoramps, which were originally designed to visualise more complete and upstanding structures. The visualisation of three U-boats and seven Allied vessels in close proximity provided core insight to the condition of the wrecks.
This is the first time that an underwater battlefield has been studied with the same rigour as land based counterparts.
The 3D interactive visualisations are in use by underwater archaeologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) USA, as digital maps to plan and support diver surveys that will record changes on these historically significant wrecks until 2018. The work is also being used to disseminate information on the site to the general public connecting them to significant hidden cultural artefacts that would otherwise be impossible to see. The 3D visualisation significantly increases public awareness of this unique historic site through online dissemination and public exposition.
This project was extended in 2013 to include a further six historic wrecks in the area. The visualisation techniques were also applied to the CSS Georgia, an Ironclad gunboat which sank in the Savannah River in 1864 during the American Civil War.
