Contents

The Introduction provides a brief overview of usSEABED and its purposes and describes two USGS projects (Benthic Habitats and Marine Aggregates) for which usSEABED data are currently used.

The section on usSEABED (data) describes the database, including its construction, sources of data, data themes, output files, quality control, and information on spatial and temporal uncertainties within the data, as well as future plans and updates. The types and contents of the output files are explained in detail.

The dbSEABED (processing) section explains the dbSEABED information-processing system as it relates to data import and processing methods. It describes the differences between the numeric and linguistic data types, as well as information on how accuracy can be assessed through calibrations and statistical analyses.

The Data Catalog is the heart of the publication and contains the five output files (EXT, PRS, CLC, CMP and FAC), along with the source (SRC) file. The data are compressed (zip format) with the data held as shapefiles and comma-delimited text files. The catalog also includes several basemap layers for use with the data. The Data Catalog section includes examples of how to visualize the data and two ESRI&trade ArcView® legends: Munsell color and Seabed Roughness.

The References section contains the references cited in the body of text. Source data are listed separately.

The Contacts section lists contact names and information for various issues such as how to contribute data, data processing questions, project related information, and questions about sediment data collection or laboratory and analysis.

The Acknowledgments section recognizes the many people and organizations who have contributed to this publication.

The Frequently Asked Questions section provides a list of questions commonly asked by users of the data.