More information about the individual USGS surveys conducted as part of the Buzzards Bay project can be found on WHCS Field Activity Web pages:
2009-002-FA: <http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-002-FA> 2010-004-FA: <http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-004-FA> 2011-004-FA: <http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2011-004-FA>
Information about the NOAA survey can be found at:
H11319: <http://surveys.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/NOS/coast/H10001-H12000/H11319/DR/>
Field activity 2010-004-FA: The SB-0512i was mounted on a catamaran sled and towed at the sea surface approximately 30 - 40 m astern of the M/V Megan T. Miller. Technical difficulties during portions of 2010-004-FA caused the GPS system mounted on the catamaran to malfunction, so DGPS navigation was obtained from a receiver mounted above on top of the acquisition van (this applies to a portion of l63f1 and subsequent data collected over Julian days 138 - 140). Layback positions, which account for the linear distance between the shipboard DGPS receiver and the towed catamaran vehicle, were calculated trigonometrically during post-processing (see processing step 3). While the vehicle mounted GPS antenna was operational, positional accuracy is assumed to be ± 10 m. While the vehicle mounted GPS was not operational, positional accuracy is assumed to be ± 20 m; increased uncertainty arises because layback calculations do not account for fish motion behind the vessel, which is caused by sea state and vessel speed induced changes in the angle and scope of the tow cable.
Field activity 2011-004-FA: The SB-0512i was mounted on a catamaran sled and towed at the sea surface approximately 50 m astern of the M/V Scarlett Isabella. Position data were provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation receiver mounted on the catamaran, and data were transmitted to the acquisition computer on the vessel via a 2.4 GHz radio link. Positional accuracy is assumed to be ± 10 m.
Seismic-reflection data acquisition 2010-004-FA: Chirp seismic data were collected using an EdgeTech Geo-Star FSSB sub-bottom profiling system and an SB-0512i towfish (0.5-12 kHz), which was mounted on a catamaran and towed astern of the M/V Megan T. Miller of Port Jefferson, NY. Chesapeake Technologies' SonarWiz (v.4.04.0111) seismic acquisition software was used to control the Geo-Star topside unit, digitally log trace data in the SEG-Y Rev. 1 format (IEEE floating point), and record GPS navigation coordinates to the SEG-Y trace headers (in arc seconds of Latitude and Longitude, multiplied by a scalar of 100). Data were acquired using a 0.25-s shot rate, a 5-ms pulse length, and a 0.5 to 8 kHz frequency sweep. Recorded trace lengths were approximately 100 ms (2170 samples/trace and .000046-s sample interval).
Seismic-reflection data acquisition 2011-004-FA: Chirp seismic data were collected using an EdgeTech Geo-Star FSSB sub-bottom profiling system and an SB-0512i towfish (0.5-12 kHz), which was mounted on a catamaran and towed astern of the M/V Scarlett Isabella of Cape May, NJ. Chesapeake Technologies' SonarWiz (v.5.03.0016) seismic acquisition software was used to control the Geo-Star topside unit, digitally log trace data in the SEG-Y Rev. 1 format (IEEE floating point), and record GPS navigation coordinates to the SEG-Y trace headers (in arc seconds of Latitude and Longitude, multiplied by a scalar of 100). Data were acquired using a 0.25-s shot rate, a 5-ms pulse length, and a 0.5 to 8 kHz frequency sweep. Recorded trace lengths were approximately 200 ms (4340 samples/trace and .000046-s sample interval).