Grid File of Historical Bathymetric Soundings for Mississippi and Alabama Derived from National Ocean Service (NOS) Hydrographic Sheets

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Grid File of Historical Bathymetric Soundings for Mississippi and Alabama Derived from National Ocean Service (NOS) Hydrographic Sheets
Abstract:
Hydrographic sheets (H-sheets) and nautical charts produced by the National Ocean Service (NOS) during the 1800s provide historic sounding (water depth) measurements of coastal areas. The data can be vectorized into a geographic information system (GIS), adjusted to a modern vertical datum, and converted into a digital elevation model to provide an interpretation of the historic seafloor elevation. These data were produced to provide an estimate of historical bathymetry for the Mississippi-Alabama coastal region to aid geologic and coastal hazards studies. This data release includes georeferenced H-sheets, depth soundings, and a bathymetric grid derived from the 1847 and 1895 soundings. The original NOS H-sheets and nautical charts were scanned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and are available through the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) website (NOAA, 2021) as non-georeferenced digital raster files. U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC) staff performed the following procedures: H-sheets were georeferenced, georeferenced raster images were projected to a modern datum, and historical bathymetric sounding measurements were digitized to create a vector point shapefile. Sounding data were converted from feet (ft) and fathoms (fm) to meters (m), projected to modern mean low water (MLW), and converted to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) GEOID12A using NOAA's datum transformation software, VDatum. Please read the full metadata for details on data collection, digitized data, dataset variables, and data quality.
Supplemental_Information:
The H-sheets included in this data release are: H-00191 (1847); H-00192 (1847-48); H-00193A (1848); H-00215 (1849); H-00227 (1850); H-00261 (1851); H-00262 (1851); H-00328 and H-00328A (1853); H-00329 (1852); H-00365 (1853); H-00430A (1854); H-01310 (1875-76). The nautical charts included in this data release are: LC-00018 (1895); LC-00188 (1856,1877); LC-00189 (1856,1894); LC-00034 (1856).
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Terrano, Joseph F., Smith, Kathryn E.L., Muni-Morgan, Amanda L., Buster, Noreen A., and Foxen, Forrest, 20220315, Grid File of Historical Bathymetric Soundings for Mississippi and Alabama Derived from National Ocean Service (NOS) Hydrographic Sheets:.

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Terrano, Joseph F., Smith, Kathryn E.L., Muni-Morgan, Amanda L., Buster, Noreen A., and Foxen, Forrest, 20210122, Historical Bathymetry in the Mississippi-Alabama Coastal Region: Bathymetric Soundings, Gridded Bathymetry, and Hydrographic Sheets: U.S. Geological Survey data release doi:10.5066/P9GRUK4B, U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, FL.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -88.726688
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -87.669826
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 30.792033
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 29.957322
  3. What does it look like?
    Grand_Bay_Gridded_Bathymetry.tif (TIFF)
    Gridded bathymetric dataset derived from historical sounding data and contours (1852 and 1853) for the Grand Bay area. The final, georectified raster image is provided in tagged image file format (TIFF).
    MS_AL_Gridded_Bathymetry.tif (TIFF)
    Gridded bathymetric dataset derived from historical sounding data and contours (1847 and 1895) for the MS/AL coastal region. The final, georectified raster image is provided as a TIFF.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date:
    Ending_Date:
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Raster Digital Data Set
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Raster data set. It contains the following raster data types:
      • Dimensions 1155 x 1125, type Grid cell
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 16N
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -87.0
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.0
      False_Easting: 500000.0
      False_Northing: 0.0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 20
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 20
      Planar coordinates are specified in Meter
      The horizontal datum used is D_North_American_1983.
      The ellipsoid used is GRS_1980.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222101.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    Gridded bathymetric data included in Grand_Bay_Gridded_Bathymetry.tif are provided in TIFF format, with a 32-bit pixel depth, and a pixel type of floating point. The raster contains 1155 rows and 1125 columns. This gridded bathymetry file is a subset of the larger MS/AL grid. The orthometric height (NAVD88, GEOID12A) of the grid is -0.136905 to -10.8203 m. Gridded bathymetric data included in MS/AL_Gridded_Bathymetry.tif are provided in TIFF format, with a 32-bit pixel depth, and a pixel type of floating point. The raster contains 4573 rows and 5030 columns. The orthometric height (NAVD88, GEOID12A) of the grid is +0.311786 to -29.6216 m.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    The entity and attribute information were generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the dataset. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Joseph F. Terrano
    • Kathryn E.L. Smith
    • Amanda L. Muni-Morgan
    • Noreen A. Buster
    • Forrest Foxen
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    Acknowledgment of the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, as a data source would be appreciated in products developed from these data, and such acknowledgment as is standard for citation and legal practices. Sharing of new data layers developed directly from these data would also be appreciated by the U.S. Geological Survey staff. Users should be aware that comparisons with other datasets for the same area from other time periods may be inaccurate due to inconsistencies resulting from changes in photointerpretation, mapping conventions, and digital processes over time. These data are not legal documents and are not to be used as such.
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    USA

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    727-502-8182 (FAX)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The purpose of this dataset is to document the historic bathymetry for a region of the Mississippi-Alabama coastal zone and intercoastal waterway. Data can be used to examine bathymetric change, calculate sediment budgets, and hindcast hydrodynamic modeling studies.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Zimmerman and Benson, 2013 (source 1 of 1)
    Zimmermann, M. and Benson, J.L., 2013, Smooth sheets: How to work with them in a GIS to derive bathymetry, features and substrates: United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Springfield, Virginia.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: Digital Resources
    Source_Contribution: Descriptive procedure for georeferencing T-sheets and H-sheets
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2021 (process 1 of 4)
    Methods used in this data release are based on those presented in Buser and Morton (2011) and Zimmermann and Benson (2013). Hydrographic sheets were created for the Mississippi-Alabama coastal region from 1847 to 1895 and were downloaded from NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) website (NOAA, 2021) as non-georeferenced raster files. Hydrographic sheets downloaded include: H-00191 (1847); H-00192 (1847-48); H-00193A (1848); H-00215 (1849); H-00227 (1850); H-00261 (1851); H-00262 (1851); H-00328 and H-00328A (1853); H-00329 (1852); H-00365 (1853); H-00430A (1854); H-01310 (1875-76). The nautical charts downloaded include: LC-00018 (1895); LC-00188 (1856,1877); LC-00189 (1856,1894); LC-00034 (1856). Within ArcGIS 10.6.1, the H-sheets were projected into the North American Datum of 1983 Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 16N (NAD83 UTM Zone 16N) using the "project raster" tool to match the projection of the topographic sheets. Using the ArcGIS "Georeferencing" toolbar, H-sheets were georeferenced to spatially referenced topographic sheets (T-sheets) or previously referenced H-sheets using at least four graticules, prominent shoreline features, and benchmarks. The rectified H-sheets and nautical charts were saved in the tagged image file format (.tif). Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    U.S.

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
    Date: 2021 (process 2 of 4)
    To digitize the soundings, the georeferenced H-sheets were added to ArcMap 10.6.1. Using the ArcMap editor toolbar, the soundings were digitized based on a visual assessment of sounding locations within the imagery and saved as vector digital data within an ArcGIS point shapefile. The written sounding (depth in feet or fathoms) displayed on the H-sheet was populated in the shapefile attribute table (Hsheet_f attribute) as each sounding was digitized. Soundings were written in fathoms for depths deeper than 18 ft but were converted back to feet before being written in the "Hsheet_f" attribute field. Data were checked to ensure written soundings matched the depth of the digitized point. All depths were written as positive values. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    U.S.

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
    Date: 2021 (process 3 of 4)
    The ArcGIS point shapefile described in the previous processing step was converted into a comma separated value (.csv) file so additional processing outside of the ArcGIS environment could be conducted. The digitized depths (Hsheet_f attribute) obtained from the H-sheets were converted to meters (Hsheet_m attribute) and those depths were then converted to modern MLW by adding 0.325 m to each depth (Depth_MLW attribute). The 0.325 m value was calculated based on an average sea level rise (SLR) rate of 2.31 millimeters per year (mm/yr; based on calculations derived for this study in 2016) using the Pensacola, Florida NOAA tidal station (https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=8729840). The Pensacola tidal station was chosen based on previous historical bathymetry data published in the region (Buster and Morton, 2011). The MLW depths were then run through the NOAA datum transformation (VDatum; version 4.0.1) program to convert the depths to NAVD88 elevations using the GEOID12A model. VDatum has a vertical accuracy of 15.7369 cm. Final depth values were converted from positive to negative depths (z_NAVD88 attribute). The final .csv file was then converted back into an ArcGIS shapefile. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    U.S.

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
    Date: 2021 (process 4 of 4)
    The MS/AL bathymetric grid was created in multiple steps with a temporary grid being used to derive contours. To create the temporary gridded bathymetric data, the 1800s shoreline (continuous points at a 10 m spacing with an elevation of -0.21 m to represent the height of the marsh), sounding data (in NAVD88; GEOID12A), and a polygon of the water (used to remove land and small tidal creeks) were added to the "Topo To Raster" tool in ArcGIS 10.6.1. The output cell size was set to 100 and all other settings were left as the default. The "Topo To Raster" tool was run and an initial, temporary grid was created. The reason a temporary grid was created was because the "Contour" tool in ArcGIS required a grid to create contours. To create the contours, the grid was run through the "Contour" tool with a contour interval of 1 m. The first temporary bathymetric grid was then discarded. The new contour file, 1800s shoreline points, water polygon, and sounding data were run through the "Topo To Raster" tool again using a cell size of 100 and all other settings set to default. Since the original sounding data consisted of thousands of soundings, the larger cell size allowed the new grid to average more points together for each cell, thus removing some of the extraneous soundings. The grid was then exported as a TIFF image with a cell size of 20. The smaller cell size smoothed the final grid. The process was repeated for the subset area of Grand Bay. Refer to the bathymetric soundings dataset (shapefile MS_AL_Bathymetric_Soundings.shp) for the exact soundings used to derive each grid. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    U.S.

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 20191024, Vertical Datum Transformation (VDatum) Software: U.S. Department of Commerce, Silver Springs, MD.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    NOAA VDatum software was used to convert sounding data from modern MLW to the NAVD88 GEOID12A.
    Noreen A. Buster and Robert A. Morton, 20110404, Historical Bathymetry and Bathymetric Change in the Mississippi-Alabama Coastal Region: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Methods in this paper were used to determine how to derive the gridded bathymetry within this data release.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the horizontal positional information in the dataset has not been conducted.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the vertical positional information in the dataset has either not been conducted or is not applicable. VDatum has a vertical accuracy of 15.7369 centimeters (cm).
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Georeferenced H-sheets and nautical charts, henceforth collectively referred to as "H-sheets", were checked to ensure they were in the correct location, using published NOAA topographic sheets (T-sheets) and modern imagery. The H-sheets were also checked to ensure features matched up from one H-sheet to the next. As a final quality control, reference points were checked to ensure they overlapped from one sheet to the next. The final gridded bathymetry has "No data" values defined as -3.40282306074e+38.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints None
Use_Constraints The U.S. Geological Survey requests to be acknowledged as originator of the data in future products or derivative research.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: Joseph F. Terrano
    Researcher III
    600 4Th Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL
    USA

    727-502-8047 (voice)
    727-502-8182 (FAX)
    jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    This digital publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution imply any such warranty. The U.S. Geological Survey shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and (or) contained herein. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.
  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 15-Mar-2022
Metadata author:
Joseph F. Terrano
U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center
Researcher III
600 4Th Street South
St. Petersburg, FL
USA

727-502-8047 (voice)
727-502-8182 (FAX)
jterrano@contractor.usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/spcmsc/Gridded_Bathymetry_Metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Wed Mar 16 11:33:27 2022