2010 Bathymetry and Digital Elevation Model of Coyote Creek and Alviso Slough, South San Francisco Bay, California

Abstract

In 2010 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Coastal and Marine Geology Program completed three cruises to map the bathymetry of the main channel and shallow intertidal mudflats in the southernmost part of south San Francisco Bay. The three surveys were merged to generate comprehensive maps of Coyote Creek (from Calaveras Point east to the railroad bridge) and Alviso Slough (from the bay to the town of Alviso) to establish baseline bathymetry prior to the breaching of levees adjacent to Alviso Slough as part of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project (http://www.southbayrestoration.org).

The bathymetry surveys were done using the state-of-the-art research vessel R/V Parke Snavely outfitted with an interferometric sidescan sonar for swath mapping in extremely shallow water. We provide high-resolution bathymetry collected by the USGS and have merged the bathymetry with aerial lidar data that were collected for the USGS during the same time period to create a seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the study area. The bathymetry datasets are provided at 1 m resolution and the bathymetric/topographic DEM at 2 m resolution. The data are formatted as both X, Y, Z text files and ESRI Arc ASCII files that are accompanied by FGDC compliant metadata.

Last modified April 18, 2012
First posted January 5, 2012