Click on figures for larger images

Figure 5. Port-side view of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ship Thomas Jefferson at sea.

Figure 6. Image showing launch 3102 being deployed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ship Thomas Jefferson.

Figure 7. Starboard-side view of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launch 3102 at sea.

Figure 8. The RESON Seabat 8125 multibeam echosounder hull-mounted to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launch 3101.

Figure 9. The RESON 7125 multibeam echosounder hull-mounted to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Ship Thomas Jefferson.

Figure 10. Brooke Ocean Technology Moving Vessel Profiler with a Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc., conductivity-temperature-depth profiler used to correct sound velocities for the multibeam data.

Figure 11. Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc., SEACAT conductivity-temperature-depth profiler.

Figure 12. Image shows a port-side view of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) RV Rafael that was used to collect bottom photography and sediment samples during USGS cruise 2011-006-FA.

Figure 13. View of the small SEABOSS, a modified Van Veen grab equipped with still and video photographic systems, mounted on the aft starboard side of the RV Rafael.

Figure 14. Map showing the station locations used to verify the acoustic data with bottom sampling and photography in Block Island Sound during U.S. Geological Survey cruise 2011-006-FA.

Figure 15. Correlation chart showing the relationships between phi sizes, millimeter diameters, size classifications, and ASTM and Tyler sieve sizes.

Figure 16. Sediment classification scheme from Shepard, as modified by Schlee and Poppe and others.

Multibeam Bathymetry

The 63-m NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson and two 8.5-m aluminum Jensen launches (3101 and 3102) deployed from the ship acquired multibeam echosounder (MBES) data for seven hydrographic surveys in Block Island Sound over an approximately 634-km² area between May and October 2009 (figs. 5, 6, 7). Registry numbers for the completed surveys include: H12009, H12010, H12011, H12015, H12033, H12137, and H12139. The MBES data were collected with a hull-mounted RESON SeaBat 455-kHz 8125 shallow-water system aboard launch 3101 (fig. 8) and RESON single frequency (400-kHz) 7125 systems aboard launch 3102 and the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson (fig. 9). Original vertical resolution of the MBES data was 0.5 percent of the water depth. The bathymetric datasets were acquired and digitally logged with HYPACK Hysweep, and processed by NOAA using CARIS Hydrographic Image Processing System (HIPS) software for quality control, to incorporate sound velocity and tidal corrections, and to produce the combined bathymetry adjusted for statistical error (BASE) surfaces.

Horizontal positioning was by differential global positioning systems (DGPS); Hypack 2009 was used for acquisition line navigation. Sound-velocity corrections were derived with frequent conductivity-temperature-depth profiles. A Brooke Ocean Technology Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) with an Applied Microsystems Smart Sound Velocity and Pressure (SV&P) sensor was used to collect sound speed profile data from the ship (fig. 10). Manually deployed Seabird Electronics SBE-19+ CTD units were used to collect sound speed profile data from the launches (fig. 11). Tidal zone corrections were calculated from data acquired by the National Water Level Observation Network stations at New London, Conn. (8461490); Newport, R.I. (8452660); and Montauk, N.Y. (8510560). The vertical datum is mean lower low water. Detailed descriptions of the MBES acquisition and processing by NOAA can be found in the Descriptive Reports (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d, 2009e, 2009f, 2009g) and in the Data Acquisition and Processing Report (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2009h).

At the USGS, field sheets from the surveys were read back into CARIS HIPS software, combined into a master BASE surface (bisound) having a 4-m grid resolution, and exported from CARIS as a Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG) file. The BAG surface was imported as gridded data into Fledermaus to make an equivalent DTM file, and this file was then directly exported to ArcGIS as a bathy raster file, retaining all of the projection information and grid cell size. Vertically exaggerated (5x), hill-shaded (illuminated from 0° north at an angle of 45° above the horizon) imagery was created using CARIS HIPS software; reprojections were performed with ArcGIS data management tools. Detailed descriptions of the processing steps performed by the USGS to create the combined datasets presented in this report are included in the metadata files. These files can be accessed through the Data Catalog section of this report.

Sampling and Photography

Sediment sampling and bottom photography were conducted in June 2011 aboard the RV Rafael (fig. 12) during cruise 2011-006-FA. Surficial sediment samples (0-2 cm below the sediment-water interface) and bottom photography were collected at 86 stations with a modified Van Veen grab sampler equipped with still- and video-camera systems (figs. 13, 14). The photographic data were used to appraise intra-station bottom variability, faunal communities, and sedimentary structures (indicative of geological and biological processes) and to observe boulder fields where samples could not be collected. A gallery of images collected as part of this project is provided in the Bottom Photography section; locations of the bottom photographs can be accessed through the Data Catalog section.

In the laboratory, the sediment samples were disaggregated and wet sieved to separate the coarse and fine fractions. The fine fraction (less than 62 microns) was analyzed by Coulter Counter; the coarse fraction was analyzed by sieving; and the data were corrected for salt content. Sediment descriptions are based on the nomenclature proposed by Wentworth (1922; fig. 15) and the size classifications proposed by Shepard (1954; fig. 16). A detailed discussion of the laboratory methods employed is given in Poppe and others (2005). Because biogenic carbonate shells commonly form in situ, they usually are not considered to be sedimentologically representative of the depositional environment. Therefore, gravel-sized bivalve shells and other biogenic carbonate debris were ignored. The grain-size analysis data can be accessed through the Data Catalog section of this report; a data dictionary is available in the Sediment Distribution section.

To facilitate interpretations of the distributions of surficial sediment and sedimentary environments, these data were supplemented by sediment data from compilations of earlier studies (Poppe and others, 2003) and unpublished datasets from the National Geophysical Data Center. The interpretations of sea-floor features, surficial sediment distributions, and sedimentary environments presented herein are based on data from the sediment sampling and bottom photography stations, and on the bathymetry. For the purposes of this report, bedforms are defined by morphology and amplitude. Sand waves are higher than 1 m; megaripples are 0.2 to 1 m high; ripples are less than 0.2 m high (Ashley, 1990). The bathymetric grids and imagery released in this report should not be used for navigation.

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