Nearshore bathymetry data from the Elwha River delta, Washington, May 2011, collected from personal watercraft

A series of benchmarks with known coordinates were established adjacent to the study area to provide geodetic control for the bathymetric surveys. The positions of the benchmarks were derived from a minimum of two static GNSS occupations. The equipment for the static occupations consisted of a dual frequency Trimble R7 GNSS receiver, a fixed-height tripod, and Trimble Geodetic Model 2 antenna. The static observations were recorded internally in the receiver and the raw observations were processed using the National Geodetic Survey Online Positioning User Service (OPUS, https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/OPUS/). Estimated uncertainties in the horizontal position of the individual GNSS occupations were provided by OPUS and ranged between 0.006 m and 0.06 m with an average horizontal uncertainty of 0.02 m. The processed positions from each occupation were averaged to obtain the final reported position of the benchmark. All final positions of the survey vessels were determined using differential corrections from the base station receivers. Manufacturer reported accuracy for the differentially corrected horizontal positions for the Trimble R7 or Trimble 5800 rover trajectories is 0.8 cm + 0.5 ppm. Baselines from the GNSS base station were typically less than 5 km, suggesting a horizontal accuracy of survey-vessel positions to be 0.825 cm. The combined horizontal uncertainty from the base station coordinate solutions and rover trajectories is between 1.5 cm and 7 cm, with a mean horizontal uncertainty of 3 cm. Uncertainty in the horizontal positions associated with pitch and roll of the survey vessels is unknown.