Interferometric Swath Bathymetric Data Collected in 2012 from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana (U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity Number 12BIM03)

Swath Bathymetry Acquisition: The interferometric swath bathymetry data were collected aboard the R/V Survey Cat using a SEA SWATHplus-H 468 kHz interferometric sonar system mounted on a sled attached to a rail system fastened between the catamaran halls allowing the instrument to align directly below the GPS antennae to minimize geometry errors. Boat position and motion data were recorded in real-time with a CodaOctopus F190R wetpod inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted underwater between the transducer heads to minimize lever arm geometry errors between the observed depths and vessel motion. Real-time corrected positions were acquired with OmniSTAR HP (High-Precision differential global navigation satellite system) satellite constellation subscription. OmniSTAR HP position correction data and motion data from the IMU were integrated with interferometric soundings in the SWATHplus software package versions 3.7.17, with positional and calibration offsets pre-defined by a session file (.sxs), allowing for real-time- corrected depths. Prior to deployment, all equipment offsets were surveyed in dry dock with a laser total station. During the survey, all swath tracklines were recorded in SEA SWATHplus raw data format (.sxr). A Valeport Mini Sound Velocity Sensor (SVS) was attached to the transducer mount and collected continuous speed of sound (SOS) measurements at the depth of the transducers. These values were directly read and incorporated into the SWATHplus acquisition software giving real-time speed of sound at the transducer while underway. In addition, a separate sound velocity profiler (Valeport miniSVP) was used to collect speed of sound profiles (water surface to seafloor) at intervals throughout the survey.

Swath Bathymetry Processing: Position data recorded by the Coda-Octopus F190R IMU system were corrected in real time via the OmniSTAR HP differential navigation system. The IMU applied real-time motion corrections for heave, roll, and pitch to the vertical component of each position fix. The corrected positions were integrated with the observed bathymetric values to calculate a final ellipsoid height and position representing the elevation of the seafloor with respect to the geodetic reference frame ITRF05 across the swath range. SWATHplus serves as both an acquisition software and initial processing software. Preliminary roll calibration trackline data were collected and processed using Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd SWATHplus and Grid Processor software version 3.7.17. Instrument offset and calibrations values were input into the session file (.sxs) and the raw data files (.sxr) were then processed using the updated system configuration containing roll calibration values, measured equipment offsets, acquisition parameters, navigation and motion from the F190R, SOS at the sonar head, and SVP cast data. Any calibration offsets or acoustic filtering applied in SWATHplus were also written to the processed data file (.sxp). The initial real time processing datum for the swath and backscatter data was ITRF05, which is the acquisition datum for OmniSTAR HP position and navigation data. All processed data files were imported into CARIS HIPS and SIPS version 7.1, and the original sounding data were edited for outliers using the program's depth filters and reference surfaces. Any remaining outliers were then edited out manually. A CARIS BASE (Bathymetry with Associated Statistical Error) surface with associated CUBE (Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetry Estimator) sample surface was created from the edited soundings dataset. A BASE hypothesis is the estimated value of a grid node representing all the soundings within a chosen resolution or grid-cell size (for example, 5 m) weighted by uncertainty and proximity; giving the final value as a "sample" of the data within the specific grid cell. This algorithm allows for multiple grid-node hypotheses to be verified or overridden by the user, while maximizing processing efficiency. A 5-m resolution CUBE surface was created to perform initial hypothesis editing using the CARIS Subset Editor tool, followed by higher resolution surface detail editing within subset editor. The sample x,y,z data were exported as ASCII text at a 5 x 5 m sample resolution in the ellipsoid datum of ITRF05.

Datum Transformation: The text file 12BIM03_IFB_ITRF05.txt was converted two separate times using VDatum version 3.2 producing two separate files with different vertical datums. The first transformation was from the data acquisition and processing datum (International Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2005, ITRF05) to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) reference frame and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) orthometric height using the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) geoid model of 2009 (GEOID09). The second transformation was from ITRF05 to NAD83 for the horizontal reference frame and Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) tidal datum using GEOID09.

Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword.