This bathymetric map of the Republic of the Marshall Islands was constructed from (1) unpublished data collected during recent surveys conducted by the USGS and KORDI (J.W. Moon and K.Y. Lee; Hein and others, in press), (2) the two-minute gridded satellite altimetry data from Smith and Sandwell (1997), and (3) coastline data from the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software (Wessel and Smith, 1995) and Chase and others (1984).
The spellings of island, atoll, and seamount names follow the recommendation of the Republic of the Marshall Islands government and are consistent with those in the Marshallese-English dictionary, including the diacritical marks (Abo and others, 1976). We were provided a list of names for the seamounts by Alfred Capelle (Alele Museum and National Archives, now located at the College of the Marshall Islands), who solicited those traditional names from village leaders from the various islands. We applied the appropriate names to seamounts located within specifically defined sectors adjacent to the various atolls and islands. The names are primarily from Marshallese legends and the meaning of each is provided by Hein and others (1990).
These data are intended for science researchers, students, policy makers, and the general public. The data can be used with geographic information systems (GIS) software to display geologic and oceanographic information.
Files provided in zipped file-
marsh200c.shp marshalls.txt marshalls.xyz marshallsg.asc marshallsg.prj
Additional information about the field activities from which this data set was derived are available online at <URL:http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/f/f1089cp/html/f-10-89-cp.meta.html> <URL:http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/f/f1190cp/html/f-11-90-cp.meta.html> <URL:http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/o/o198wp/html/o-1-98-wp.meta.html>
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document the data set in nonproprietary form, as well as in ArcInfo format, this metadata file may include some ArcInfo-specific terminology.
A 2006 version of the ETOPO2 data is currently available, but no update on the grid is planned at this time. Artifacts such as the "crater" in south Kwajalien remain in the grid.
MARSHALLSG.STA: elevation statistics (meters)
MIN MAX MEAN STDV
-6617.944 0.000 -4693.243 1049.956
Although these data have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data.
The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials.