CoconutIsland_2023_MBES: High-resolution Geophysical and Imagery Data Collected in May 2023 Near Fort Hase, Marine Corps Base Hawaii

Acquisition: An ERS consisting of multibeam bathymetry and acoustic backscatter was conducted using a Norbit Winghead multibeam echosounder. The Norbit proprietary PORTUS mounting pole was mounted on the starboard gunnel of the R/V Alyce C, a 28-foot fiberglass vessel of opportunity. The sonar array was oriented athwartships (facing outward and down to port and starboard, respectively) and located approximately 1-m below the waterline when deployed. An integrated Applanix Pos MV Wavemaster II V5 inertially aided navigation system was used for timing, positioning, and attitude. The Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is manufactured into the form factor of the Winghead barrel array such that offsets are minimal and static. Two AeroAntenna Technology, INC. AT1675-540TS-TNCF-000-RG-45-MN-R Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas were affixed atop the pole two meters apart, forward-aft. An integrated sound velocity sensor was used for speed of sound readings at the sonar head. A Sontek CastAway CTD was used for measuring sound velocity profiles. Hydrographic survey acquisition and processing software, HYPACK/HYSWEEP (version 2022) managed data inputs from sensors and produced two files (.RAW and .HSX). Data were collected in WGS84 [G1150] Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 4 North (17N) coordinates.

Processing: Positioning and attitude data were post-processed in Applanix POSPac MMS (POSPac) software version 8.8 Service Pack 3. Raw position files were imported into POSPac and processed with the IN-Fusion PP-RTX processing mode utilizing Trimble CenterPoint RTX technology, creating smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET) files and dynamic error files (SMRMSG) for each day of the survey. Bathymetric data were post-processed in CARIS Hydrographic processing software HIPS/SIPS version 11.4.14. HYPACK acquisition files (.HSX) were first imported into CARIS and then post-processed navigation files (SBET and SMRMSG) were imported and applied. Additionally, Global Positioning System (GPS) tide (GPS tidal corrections utilize GPS height information from real time survey observations to obtain an ellipsoid height) was computed and sound velocity profiles were applied. Roll calibration was also performed, as necessary. TPU was calculated from real time values recorded in the HSX and the SMRMSG files. Data were filtered to exclude any points with RESON Quality flags of 0, 1, and 2 (these flags are assigned to individual soundings at the time of acquisition and are a metric of pass/fail in regard to both brightness and collinearity: 0 = fail both, 1 = pass brightness only, 2 = pass collinearity only), as well as soundings that had a TPU greater than stated IHO Special Order standards (IHO, 2008). Refraction artifacts were addressed using the corrections tool within the Subset Editor. Additional editing was also performed in Subset Editor. A 0.25-m bathymetric CUBE surface was computed and a visual and statistical inspection of the data effecting the surface was performed and edited as needed to serve as quality control (Calder and Wells, 2007). The final surface was exported as an x,y,z ASCII file using the 'Base Surface' to ASCII function.

Backscatter Mosaic Creation: Acoustic Intensity Backscatter data (.7k) were loaded in CARIS Hydrographic processing software HIPS/SIPS version 11.4.14 using the SIPS Backscatter tool. The final CUBE bathymetry surface serves as input for geometric corrections and average temperature and salinity data (derived from the Sontek CastAway CTD measurements taken during acquisition) and are utilized by the program to calculate local absorption and transmission loss. These inputs, along with the following settings were entered into the tool, and then processing was initiated [Weighted Average = blending, image type = beam average, weighting = swath, and an Angle-Varying gain = 200]. During processing, the tool automatically creates a beam pattern file (.bbp) which is used to correct for variations in the beam pattern of the system. Upon completion, a 0.25-m backscatter mosaic with intensity values ranging from 20.6244 to -36.0066 dB (decibels) was created. After visual inspection, the mosaic was exported as a 32-bit float GeoTIFF (.tiff) using the 'Surface to GeoTIFF' function.

Datum Transformation: Final x,y,z data were converted using NOAA's VDatum v.3.9 software conversion tool from the WGS84 [G1150] realization to NAD83 [2011] NAVD88, using the GEOID12B model (orthometric height).