Open-File Report 00-321: Activities and Preliminary Results of Nearshore Benthic Habitat Mapping in Southern California, 1998

Activities and Preliminary Results of Nearshore Benthic Habitat Mapping in Southern California, 1998

Data Processing

The sidescan-sonar data were processed following the methodology of Chavez (1984), using The USGS Mini Image Processing System (MIPS). The slant-range, destripe, and beam pattern-processing routines, executed within MIPS, correct geometric and radiometric distortions inherent in the sonar data. The slant-range algorithm removes the water column artifact from the sonograph and corrects slant-range distance to true ground distance; the destripe routine corrects fluctuations in adjacent ping values within the sonar record; the beam pattern routine corrects variations in beam intensity with range. The processed data files were mosaiced to form a composite image. A linear stretch was applied to the final mosaics to enhance the contrast between low and high backscatter areas. The final mosaics were exported from MIPS in TIFF format. The TIFF images were imported into an arc/info GIS database that contained coastline, geology, and bathymetry coverages. The processed and georeferenced sidescan data will be released in a future report.

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Suggested citation:

Cochrane, Guy R., and Lafferty, Kevin D., 2000, Activities and Preliminary Results of Nearshore Benthic Habitat Mapping in Southern California, 1998: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-321, https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/0321/.

U.S. Department of the Interior
SALLY JEWELL, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey
Suzette M. Kimball, Acting Director