Introduction, TIME-SERIES PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SEA FLOOR IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS BAY: June - October 1996, USGS Open-File Report 98-797

Introduction

Time-series photographs of the seafloor were obtained at a site in western Massachusetts Bay (42^o 22.6' N 70^o 47.1' W) between June 11, 1996 and October 1, 1996 at water depth of 31 m. The long-term monitoring station is just to the south of the location of the new ocean outfall that will begin discharging treated effluent in 1999 (see plan view map and perspective map). The photographs are part of a suite of observations obtained by the U.S. Geological Survey (Bothner et al, 1994) and others (Geyer et al, 1992), to monitor sediment resuspension and transport in Massachusetts Bay. The observations are made in cooperation with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. This deployment is USGS mooring number 470.

Several hundred similar sequences of bottom photographs have been obtained at a wide variety of locations on the United States continental margin since 1975. This is a pilot project to develop a mechanism to digitally view, archive, and distribute the time series bottom photographs.