DH_BathyTrackline: Survey lines along which interferometric and multibeam bathymetric sonar data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offshore of Massachusetts between Duxbury and Hull

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
DH_BathyTrackline: Survey lines along which interferometric and multibeam bathymetric sonar data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offshore of Massachusetts between Duxbury and Hull
Abstract:
These data were collected under a cooperative agreement with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center (WHSC). Initiated in 2003, the primary objective of this program is to develop regional geologic framework information for the management of coastal and marine resources. Accurate data and maps of sea-floor geology are important first steps toward protecting fish habitat, delineating marine resources, and assessing environmental changes due to natural or human impacts. The project is focused on the inshore waters (5-30 m deep) of Massachusetts between the New Hampshire border and Cape Cod Bay. Data collected for the mapping cooperative have been released in a series of USGS Open-File Reports (<http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/coastal_mass/html/current_map.html>). This spatial dataset is from the study area located between Duxbury and Hull Massachusetts, and consists of high-resolution geophysics (bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and seismic reflection) and ground validation (sediment samples, video tracklines and bottom photographs). The data were collected during four separate surveys conducted between 2003 and 2007 (NOAA survey H10993 in 2003, USGS-WHSC survey 06012 in 2006, and USGS-WHSC surveys 07001 and 07003 in 2007) and cover more than 200 square kilometers of the inner continental shelf.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    U.S. Geological Survey, 2010, DH_BathyTrackline: Survey lines along which interferometric and multibeam bathymetric sonar data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offshore of Massachusetts between Duxbury and Hull: Open-File Report 2009-1072, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Barnhardt, Walter A. , Ackerman, Seth D. , Andrews, Brian D. , and Baldwin, Wayne E. , 2010, Geophysical and Sampling Data from the Inner Continental Shelf: Duxbury to Hull, Massachusetts.: Open-File Report 2009-1072, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.827825
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.595637
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.346960
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.080481

  3. What does it look like?

    <https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2009/1072/GIS/browse_jpg/big/DH_BathyTrackline.jpg> (JPEG)
    Trackline navigation for interferometric and multibeam bathymetric sonar collected offshore of Massachusetts between Duxbury and Hull

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 20-Aug-2003; 20060804; 20070422
    Ending_Date: 03-Oct-2003; 20060820; 20070502
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • String (989)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

      The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    DH_BathyTrackline
    Trackline for swath bathymetric systems (Source: USGS)

    FID
    Internal feature number (Source: ESRI)

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated

    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features

    FILENAME
    Name of bathymetric sonar data file (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 10

    YEAR
    Calendar year data were collected (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 5

    JULDAY
    Julian day data were collected (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 4

    LENGTH
    Length of bathymetric sonar transect in kilometers (UTM Zone 19N, WGS84) (Source: USGS)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0.036414
    Maximum:14.381701

    SURVEYID
    WHSC field activity number or NOAA hydrographic survey number (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 10

    DEVICEID
    Sonar device used to collect bathymetric data (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 25

    VEHICLEID
    Survey vessel name (Source: USGS)

    Character string of width 25

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

This data set contains trackline navigation for approximately 3240 km of interferometric (Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd. (SEA) SWATHPlus-M) and multibeam (RESON SeaBat 8101 and 8125) bathymetric sonar data that were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, respectively, during three surveys (NOAA survey H10993 and USGS surveys 06012 and 07001) offshore of Massachusetts, between Duxbury and Hull.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    (source 1 of 1)
    Source_Contribution:
    Bathymetric sonar data acquisition H10993: Bathymetric sonar data were collected from launches 1005 and 1014 of the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, S-222. Launch 1005 used a RESON SeaBat 8101 multibeam sonar system and Launch 1014 used a RESON SeaBat 8125 multibeam sonar system. Positioning and attitude information on both launches were determined using Applanix TSS POS/MV 320 (version 2) GPS aided inertial navigation systems. On Launch 1014, an Odom Hydrographic Digibar Pro sound velocimeter was used to continually measure changes in sound-velocity near the sea surface. Sonar data were collected along east-west oriented survey lines spaced between approximately 15 and 50 meters apart, providing 100 percent coverage of the seafloor. Data collected along several north-south oriented survey lines were used for survey line junction analyses subsequent to the application of tide corrections. To review more detailed information concerning data acquisition equipment, configuration, and settings on launches 1005 and 1014, please refer to the descriptive report for the survey H10993, which can be accessed online by visiting <http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/hydro.html> and entering "H10993" into the "Survey" section of the "Text search of NOS data and products" dialog. Bathymetric sonar data acquisition 06012: Bathymetric sonar data were collected using a Systems Engineering and Assessment (SEA), Ltd. SWATHPlus-M (234 kHz) interferometric sonar system. The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 2.6 m below the water line, along the starboard side of the R/V Megan T. Miller of Port Jefferson, NY. An International Industries, Inc. TSS DMS 2-05 inertial-motion unit, mounted directly above the SWATHPlus transducers, measured vertical displacement (heave) and attitude (pitch and roll) of the vessel during data acquisition. Heading was determined using an Ashtech ADU2 for lines l1f1-l99f1, and a KVH compass (with processor calculated declination +15.583 to be applied during post-processing) for lines l99f2-end of survey. An Applied Microsystems Ltd. Micro SV sound velocimeter, mounted adjacent to the SWATHPlus transducers, continually measured changes in sound-velocity near the sea surface, and a hand-casted, Applied MicroSystems SV Plus sound velocimeter was used to collect sound-velocity profiles of the entire water column approximately every two hours. SWATHPlus acquisition software was used to control the transducers and digitally log sonar data across a 200 m swath in the SWATHPlus .SXR format. To obtain 100 percent coverage of the seafloor, sonar data were collected along northwest-southeast and north-south oriented survey lines that were spaced approximately 100 or 200 meters apart. Data collected along several northeast-southwest and east-west oriented survey lines were used for survey line junction analyses subsequent to the application of tide corrections. The R/V Megan T. Miller maintained an average speed of 5 knots during survey operations. Bathymetric sonar data acquisition 07001: Bathymetric sonar data were collected using a Systems Engineering and Assessment, Ltd. SWATHPlus-M (234 kHz) interferometric sonar system. The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 0.5 m below the water line, from the bow of the of the R/V Rafael of Woods Hole, MA. A CodaOctopus F-180 inertial-motion unit, mounted directly above the SWATHPlus transducers, measured vertical displacement (heave) and attitude (pitch and roll) of the vessel during data acquisition. An Applied Microsystems Ltd. Micro SV sound velocimeter, mounted adjacent to the SWATHPlus transducers, continually measured changes in sound-velocity near the sea surface, and a hand-casted, Applied MicroSystems SV Plus sound velocimeter was used to collect sound-velocity profiles of the entire water column approximately every two hours. SWATHPlus acquisition software was used to control the transducers and digitally log sonar data across a 150 m swath in the SWATHPlus .SXR format. To obtain 100 percent coverage of the seafloor, sonar data were collected along northwest-southeast and north-south oriented survey lines that were spaced approximately 100 m apart. Data collected along several northeast-southwest and east-west oriented survey lines were used for survey line junction analyses subsequent to the application of tide corrections. The R/V Rafael maintained an average speed of 5 knots during survey operations.

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 2008 (process 1 of 5)
    For Field Activity 06012 and 07001: Raw to Processed Conversion: Survey navigation information is stored within each raw (sxr) data file. Each raw SWATHPlus bathymetric sonar file (sxr) was converted to a SWATHPlus processed file (sxp) using SEA SWATHPlus Swath Processor (ver. 3.05.19.0).

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

    Date: 2008 (process 2 of 5)
    For Field Activity 06012 and 07001: CARIS Processing: A new Computer Aided Resource Information System (CARIS) Hydrographic Information Processing System (HIPS) project (ver. 6.1) was created with projection information set to Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 19, WGS84. Each SWATHPlus processed file (sxp) was imported to the new CARIS project using the Import/Conversion Wizard. Navigation was checked and edited as needed using the Navigation Editor tool. For NOAA survey H10993: NOAA's CARIS directory was provided to the USGS. No additional swath processing or navigation editing was performed to the NOAA data in CARIS.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

    Date: Sep-2009 (process 3 of 5)
    A series of Perl and AWK programming scripts were used to extract and subsample the navigation fixes stored in the CARIS HIPS database. The processing flow for this step follows: A. Extract navigation for each line in CARIS HDCS directory using Perl script do_CARIS_nav2.pl (which runs the CARIS program printfnav for all the lines in the HDCS dir) and the grep statement below. (Extracted navigation file is tab-delimited in format YYYY-JD HH:MM:SS:FFF DD.LAT DD.LONG SSSSS_VVVVV_YYYY-JD_LLLL AR where YYYY=year, JD=Julian Day, HH=hour, MM=minute, SS=seconds, FFF=fractions of a second, DD.LAT=latitude in decimal degrees, DD.LONG=longitude in decimal degrees, SSSSS=survey name, VVVVV=vessel name, LLLL=linename, AR=accepted or rejected navigation fix) > grep Accepted combined.txt > outputfile This step was done separately for the USGS surveys and the NOAA survey (06012, 07001 and H10993), creating the files 1.usgs_combined_grep.txt and 1.noaa_combined_grep.txt. Lines in the NOAA survey that fell outside the Duxbury to Hull survey area were removed from the navigation file. B. The two navigation files were concatenated together. > cat 1*.txt > 2.ss_combined_grep.txt C. The files extracted from CARIS HIPS have 4-5 navigation fixes per second. Each file was subsampled to 1 fix per second by using AWK (see code below) to remove the fractions-of-a-second from the time column then grabbing the first occurrence of each second. > awk '{print $1" "substr($2,1,8)" "$3" "$4" "$5}' 2.ss_combined_grep.txt | awk '$2 != prev { print; prev = $2 }' > 3.ss_nav_awked.txt D. Checked that there were no additional spurious fixes outside the survey area using another series of AWK code (see code below), and reformatted for conversion from comma separated value (CSV) data to ESRI point feature class > awk -F" " '{if(substr($4,1,3)!="-70") print $0}' 3.ss_nav_awked.txt > awk -F" " '{if(substr($3,1,1)!="4") print $0}' 3.ss_nav_awked.txt > awk -f reformat_CARIS2Arc_SS.awk 3.ss_nav_awked.txt > SS_bathyNAV_ofr.csv

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

    Date: Oct-2009 (process 4 of 5)
    In ArcCatalog (version 9.3), navigation text (SS_bathyNAV_ofr.csv) was converted to a point feature class by right-clicking on the comma separated value text file -- Create Feature Class -- from XY table using the defined projection Geographic (Decimal_Degrees_WGS84.prj). {output file: XYSS_bathyNAV_ofr.shp]

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

    Date: Oct-2009 (process 5 of 5)
    VAC Extras tool (version: 2.04 FeatConv - Points to Line v2; USGS in-house software) was then used within ArcMap (version 9.3) to convert the navigation points (XYSS_bathyNAV_ofr.shp) to a temporary trackline shapefile (SS_bathyNAV_ofr_trk.shp). The trackline shapefile was checked to ensure no spurious fixes. XTools Pro (version 5.3.0) for ArcGIS desktop was used to reorganize and add fields to the polyline shapefile's attribute table. Fields for device used to collect the data ('DEVICEID'), survey vessel name ('VEHICLEID'), and year ('YEAR') were added and populated using the table editor in ArcMap (version 9.3). Table attributes for the survey ID ("SURVEYID') and Julian day ('JULDAY') of data collection, were already populated but edited to be consistent with the other trackline shapefile in this report. The length field ('LENGTH') was populated using 'Calculate Geometry' (Property=Length; Use coordinate system of the data frame=WGS 1984 UTM Zone 19N; Unit=Kilometers), which can be accessed by right-clicking on the attribute field name in the table view. (output file: DH_BathyTrackline.shp)

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

    Barnhardt, Walter A. , Andrews, Brian D. , and Butman, Bradford, 2006, High-Resolution Mapping of the Inner Continental Shelf: Nahant to Gloucester, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2005-1293, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Ackerman, Seth D. , Butman, Bradford, Barnhardt, Walter A. , Danforth, William W. , and Crocker, James M. , 2006, High-Resolution Geologic Mapping of the Inner Continental Shelf: Boston Harbor and Approaches, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2006-1008, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Barnhardt, Walter A. , Andrews, Brian D. , Ackerman, Seth D. , Baldwin, Wayne E. , and Hein, Christopher J. , 2009, High-Resolution Geological Mapping of the Inner Continental Shelf: Cape Ann to Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2007-1373, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2003, Data Acquisition and Process Report - NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson (August - November 2003): Data Acquisition and Process Report (DAPR) NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson (August - November 2003), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, CO.

    Online Links:

    NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2003, Descriptive Report, Basic Hydrographic Survey H10993, Approaches to Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Bay, Massachusetts: Descriptive Report (DR) H10993, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, CO.

    Online Links:

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    All attributes were checked in a consistent manner.

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

    Hydrographic survey H10993: Horizontal sounding positional control for the NOAA H10993 survey was determined using the Global Positioning System (GPS) corrected by U.S. Coast Guard Differential GPS (DGPS) beacon stations. The primary and only DGPS beacon used for survey H10993 was Portsmouth Harbor, NH (Beacon No. 771). No horizontal control stations were established for the NOAA survey. Additional information may be found in the NOAA Descriptive Report for survey H10993, the Data Acquisition and Processing Report, and the Horizontal and Vertical Control Report. Field activity 06012: The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 2.6 m below the water line, along the starboard side of the R/V Megan T. Miller. Position data were provided by the Z-Surveyor Extreme for real-time kinematic (RTK) navigation (the Ashtech BR2G DGPS was used as a backup navigation system) and recorded to the raw data files (SXR) via SWATHPlus (version 2.07) on the acquisition computer. During some portions of the survey, technical difficulties caused the GPS systems to malfunction; in some instances the acquisition systems fell back on the RTK Float or the autonomous GPS navigation; but in some cases surveying was halted until a reliable GPS signal could be achieved. A conservative estimate of positional accuracy is estimated to be ± 10 m although when the system was recording RTK navigation the positional accuracy is likely <1 m as RTK-GPS provides horizontal positional accuracies on the decimeter scale (<http://www.noaa.gov>; <http://www.nos.noaa.gov>; <http://www.ngs.noaa.gov>). Field activity 07001: The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 0.5 m below the water line, from the bow of the of the R/V Rafael of Woods Hole, MA. Position data were provided by the Ashtech Extreme for RTK navigation (the Ashtech BR2G DGPS was used as a backup navigation system) and recorded to the raw data files (SXR) via SWATHPlus (version 3.X) on the acquisition computer. A conservative estimate of positional accuracy is estimated to be ± 10 m although when the system was recording RTK navigation the positional accuracy is likely <1 m as RTK-GPS provides horizontal positional accuracies on the decimeter scale (<http://www.noaa.gov>; <http://www.nos.noaa.gov>; <http://www.ngs.noaa.gov>).

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    Only the subsets of interferometric bathymetric sonar collected during field activities 06012 and 07001 that are within the study area between Duxbury and Hull have been included in this spatial dataset. Approximately 945 km of additional bathymetric sonar data collected South of Brant Rock, Massachusetts during these field activities will be published in a subsequent data release focused on Cape Cod Bay. Additionally, only a portion of the multibeam bathymetric sonar trackline data acquired during NOAA hydrographic survey H10993 is included in this shapefile. To review additional data collected during this survey, please refer to the descriptive report for the survey which can be accessed online by visiting <http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/hydro.html> and entering "H10993" into the "Survey" section of the "Text search of NOS data & products" dialog.

    This shapefile includes trackline navigation from all the swath sonar data that was collected within the survey area; however only quality bathymetric soundings along the main survey lines were included in the final bathymetry grid included on this report (DH_bathy5m). Bathymetric data along the tielines, line l67f2 and sections of other main survey lines (mostly during leg 1 of survey 06012, see below for more information) were not included in the final bathymetric grid.

    The GPS navigation and bathymetric attitude data were significantly hindered during the first leg of survey 06012 (lines l1f1 - l99f2, 4-14 Aug 2006). Navigation dropouts halted surveying and problems with the ADU2 compass resulted in un-usable bathymetric data along survey tracklines that have valid navigation data. Therefore, tracklines of good navigation occur in areas where there are gaps in the bathymetry coverage as illustrated in the dataset DH_bathyhlshd_wgaps.tif, included in this report.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    Any spurious data points were removed during processing. Duplicate names may exist for the FILENAME field; however further querying the data by SURVEYID will distinguish a unique trackline for each record in this spatial dataset.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the source of this information.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Seth Ackerman
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    sackerman@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

    This zip file contains data available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) point shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from ESRI at www.esri.com.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 19-Aug-2009
Metadata author:
Seth Ackerman
U.S. Geological Survey
Geologist
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
USA

508-548-8700 x2315 (voice)
508-457-2310 (FAX)
sackerman@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.8.25 on Fri Feb 19 20:52:15 2010