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 activities 2009-002-FA and 2010-004-FA: Navigation was acquired with a Coda Octopus F180 Differential Global Positioning System + Wide Area Augmentation System (DGPS+WAAS), which is accurate to + or - 1 to 2 meters, horizontally. All DGPS data are referenced to WGS84. The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 2.46 m below the water line, along the starboard side of the M/V Megan T. Miller. The DGPS antenna was located on the same pole approximately 4.3m above the sea surface. These offsets were corrected within the SWATHPlus acquisition software.
Field activity 2011-004-FA: Navigation was acquired with a Coda Octopus F180 Differential Global Positioning System + Wide Area Augmentation System (DGPS+WAAS), which is accurate to + or - 1 to 2 meters, horizontally. All DGPS data are referenced to WGS84. The SWATHPlus transducers were mounted on a rigid pole, approximately 2.17 m below the water line, along the port side of the M/V Scarlett Isabella. The DGPS antenna was located on the same pole approximately 4.6m above the sea surface. These offsets were corrected within the SWATHPlus acquisition software.
The DGPS horizontal positional accuracy is estimated to be within 3-5 m; WAAS enabled DGPS accuracy is estimated to be within less than 3 m and the accuracy of RTK-GPS (which was not applied to the horizontal positions for these surveys) is estimated to be less than 1 m. However, the U.S. Coast Guard maintains a maritime DGPS service providing 10 meter accuracy for the coastal areas of the continental US; therefore, a very conservative, worse-case estimate of the horizontal positional accuracy of this survey data is approximately 10 meters (although these systems have been shown to be reliable to less than 2m). (sources: <http://www.noaa.gov>; <http://www.nos.noaa.gov>; <http://www.ngs.noaa.gov>; <http://www.nstb.tc.faa.gov/>; <http://www.navcen.uscg.gov>).
While much effort was devoted to cleaning the data and minimizing survey artifacts, some artifacts may still be seen in the final gridded data including an along track artifact at nadir (the ship track) and at the far edges of a survey line where adjacent swaths overlap. These artifacts are especially noticeable in areas of little local relief within this hillshade grid.