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Open-File Report 2014–1012

Prepared in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Combined Multibeam Bathymetry Data from Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound – A Regional Perspective

By Lawrence J. Poppe, Katherine Y. McMullen, William W. Danforth, Mark A. Blankenship, Andrew R. Clos, Kimberly A. Glomb, Peter G. Lewit, Megan A. Nadeau, Douglas A. Wood, and Castleton E. Parker

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (8 KB)Abstract

Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor in Rhode Island and Block Island Sounds are of great interest to the New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts research and management communities because of this area's ecological, recreational, and commercial importance. Geologically interpreted digital terrain models from individual surveys provide important benthic environmental information, yet many applications of this information require a geographically broader perspective. For example, individual surveys are of limited use for the planning and construction of cross-sound infrastructure, such as cables and pipelines, or for the testing of regional circulation models. To address this need, we integrated 14 contiguous multibeam bathymetric datasets that were produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during charting operations into one digital terrain model that covers much of Block Island Sound and extends eastward across Rhode Island Sound. The new dataset, which covers over 1244 square kilometers, is adjusted to mean lower low water, gridded to 4-meter resolution, and provided in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 19, North American Datum of 1983 and geographic World Geodetic Survey of 1984 projections. This resolution is adequate for sea-floor feature and process interpretation but is small enough to be queried and manipulated with standard Geographic Information System programs and to allow for future growth. Natural features visible in the data include boulder lag deposits of winnowed Pleistocene strata, sand-wave fields, and scour depressions that reflect the strength of oscillating tidal currents and scour by storm-induced waves. Bedform asymmetry allows interpretations of net sediment transport. Anthropogenic features visible in the data include shipwrecks and dredged channels. Together the merged data reveal a larger, more continuous perspective of bathymetric topography than previously available, providing a fundamental framework for research and resource management activities offshore of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York.

First posted March 14, 2014

For additional information, contact:
Director, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
384 Woods Hole Road
Quissett Campus
Woods Hole, MA 02543
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Poppe, L.J., McMullen, K.Y., Danforth, W.W., Blankenship, M.A., Clos, A.R., Glomb, K.A., Lewit, P.G., Nadeau, M.A., Wood, D.A., and Parker, C.E., 2014, Combined multibeam and bathymetry data from Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound – a regional perspective: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014–1012, DVD-ROM, 9 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141012.

ISSN 2332–4899 (DVD)

ISSN 2331–1258 (online)



Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Bathymetry

GIS Data Catalog

Summary

Acknowledgments

References

Contacts


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