Survey Overview

A single-beam bathymetric survey was conducted by the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal Marine Science Center within the shallow-water coastal zone around the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, during June 16‒25, 2015, under Field Activity Number 2015-317-FA (fig. 2). Data were collected aboard 3 separate survey platforms including the 26 foot (ft) R/V Sallenger (cruise identifier 15BIM01, fig. 3), the 17 ft R/V Jabba Jaw (15BIM02, fig. 4), and the R/V Chum (15BIM03, fig. 5), for a total of approximately 1,614 trackline km (table 1). In total, the survey is more than 400 km², extending 3 km from the back-barrier shoreline of the islands and 5 km from the Gulf shoreface. Shore-perpendicular survey lines were spaced approximately 500 m apart and shore-parallel crossing lines were located as close to the shoreline as possible, 1 km from the shoreline, and 3 km offshore of the Gulf shoreline. All data were collected and processed in the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) (G1150).

Figure 2. Trackline map coverage for the 2015 Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) single-beam bathymetry survey of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. [Click figure to enlarge]

Figure 3. Data acquisition showing in A, a photograph of the R/V Sallenger vessel used for data collection and in B, a trackline map of 665.6 line-km (216 lines) single-beam bathymetry results (USGS SPCMSC cruise identifier 15BIM01). [Click figure to enlarge]

Figure 4. Data acquisition showing in A, a photograph of the R/V Jabba Jaw vessel used for data collection and in B, a trackline map of 442.3 line-km (158 lines) single-beam bathymetry results (USGS SPCMSC cruise identifier 15BIM02). [Click figure to enlarge]

Figure 5. Data acquisition showing in A, a photograph of the R/V Chum vessel used for data collection and in B, a trackline map of 505.7 line-km (186 lines) single-beam bathymetry results (USGS SPCMSC cruise identifier 15BIM03). [Click figure to enlarge]