Bathymetry of the Hudson Shelf Valley (12-m resolution Esri binary grid and 32-bit GeoTIFF, Mercator, WGS 84)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Bathymetry of the Hudson Shelf Valley (12-m resolution Esri binary grid and 32-bit GeoTIFF, Mercator, WGS 84)
Abstract:
The Hudson Shelf Valley is the submerged seaward extension of the ancestral Hudson River drainage system and is the largest physiographic feature on the Middle Atlantic continental shelf. The valley begins offshore of New York and New Jersey at about 30-meter (m) water depth, runs southerly and then southeasterly across the Continental Shelf, and terminates on the outer shelf at about 85-m water depth landward of the head of the Hudson Canyon. Portions of the 150-kilometer-long valley were surveyed in 1996, 1998, and 2000 using a Simrad EM1000 multibeam echosounder mounted on the Canadian Coast Guard ship Frederick G. Creed. The purpose of the multibeam echosounder surveys was to map the bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the valley, providing a framework for geologic, oceanographic, and geochemical studies. The data from the three surveys are combined to produce grids of bathymetry and backscatter intensity at 12-m resolution that cover the entire valley and the head of the Hudson Canyon. The mapping was done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with support from the Canadian Hydrographic Service and the University of New Brunswick.
Supplemental_Information:
Butman and others (1998), Butman and others (2003), and Thieler and others (2007) (see cross references) present maps and interpretations of the multibeam data. Additional edits, primarily sound velocity corrections, were made to this grid compared to that shown in Butman and others (2003). Other datasets from the survey of the Hudson Shelf Valley may be found in Butman and others (2017) (see larger work citation).
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    U.S. Geological Survey, 2017, Bathymetry of the Hudson Shelf Valley (12-m resolution Esri binary grid and 32-bit GeoTIFF, Mercator, WGS 84): data release DOI:10.5066/F7C53J1Z, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Butman, Bradford, Danforth, William W., John E. Hughes Clarke, and Signell, Richard P., 2017, Bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the Hudson Shelf Valley: data release DOI:10.5066/F7C53J1Z, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested citation: Butman, Bradford, Danforth, W.W., Clarke, J.E.H., and Signell, R.P., 2017, Bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the Hudson Shelf Valley: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7C53J1Z.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -73.901667
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -71.999938
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.433325
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.333333
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/589a201ee4b0efcedb71a59f?name=hsv_bath12m_browsegraphic.jpg (JPEG)
    Browse graphic of the bathymetry of the sea floor.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 23-Nov-1996
    Ending_Date: 04-May-2000
    Currentness_Reference:
    Ground condition. Surveys of different parts of the valley were carried out 19961123 to 19961201, 19981029 to 19981102, and 20000407 to 20000504.
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
  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 10161 x 13533 x 1, type Grid Cell
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      The map projection used is Mercator.
      Projection parameters:
      Standard_Parallel: 40.000000
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -75.000000
      False_Easting: 0.000000
      False_Northing: 0.000000
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 12.000000
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 12.000000
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters
      The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Datum_Name: North American Vertical Datum of 1988
      Altitude_Resolution: 0.01
      Altitude_Distance_Units: meters
      Altitude_Encoding_Method: Implicit coordinate
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    12-m resolution grid of sea floor elevation (in meters) referenced to NAVD88. The soundings were corrected for tidal fluctuations using the ADCIRC tidal model. The model produces harmonic constituents and a mean component relative to the NAVD88 datum. Correcting survey water levels using ADCIRC-predicted water levels are thus relative to NAVD88 datum. Deviation from the NAVD88 datum will be due errors in the ADCIRC correction, other fluctuations in sea level during the survey, and deviation of mean sea level from NAVD88 due to ocean dynamics. Depth is reported as negative altitude. Range is -11 m to - 518 m.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • U.S. Geological Survey
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Bradford Butman
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2212 (voice)
    bbutman@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The bathymetry shows the shape of the sea floor. Of particular interest are the shape of the valley and features that may indicate sediment deposition or transport. The grid merges bathymetry data obtained in 1996, 1998, and 2000.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    none (source 1 of 1)
    Service, Canadian Hydrographic, Danforth, William W., and John E. Hughes Clarke, Unpublished Material, raw multibeam data.

    Type_of_Source_Media: disc
    Source_Contribution:
    The multibeam data were collected with a Simrad EM1000 multibeam echosounder mounted on the Canadian Coast Guard ship Frederick G. Creed. The multibeam system utilizes 60 electronically-aimed receive beams spaced at intervals of 2.5 degrees that insonify a strip of sea floor up to 7.5 times the water depth. The horizontal resolution of the beam on the sea floor is approximately 10 % of the water depth. Vertical resolution is approximately 1 % of the water depth. Data were collected along tracklines spaced 5-7 times the water depth apart at a speed of 10-14 knots. The valley was surveyed with lines running approximately parallel to the valley axis; in some areas the lines were run in a Zamboni pattern for efficiency. The piecemeal survey pattern was a result of the limited endurance of the Creed, about 2 days, and weather. The frequency of the sonar is 95 kHz. Sound velocity profiles, used to correct for refraction, were obtained when arriving at the start of each portion of the survey and then twice each day. Navigation was by means of differential GPS. Operation of the Simrad EM1000 was carried out by hydrographers of the Canadian Hydrographic Service. The data were collected on Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center field activities 1996-043-FA (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fa=1996-043-FA), 1998-015-FA (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fa=1998-015-FA), and 2000-015-FA (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fa=1998-015-FA).
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2000 (process 1 of 8)
    Data processing and editing at sea
    Processing of the data was carried out by USGS personnel with assistance from the Ocean Mapping Group at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), Canada. A suite of processing software (called SwathEd) developed by the Ocean Mapping Group (<Clarke, 1998; see cross reference>) was used to process, edit, and archive the bathymetric soundings. These routines are designed to be run on a Unix and/or Linux operating system.
    The processing and editing steps carried out on board the ship were:
    1. Demultiplex (unravel) the Simrad data files using RT to generate separate files for a given raw file (filename.raw_all) containing navigation (filename.nav), depth soundings (filename.merged), sidescan sonar backscatter values (filename.merged_ssdata), acquisition parameters (filename.param) sound velocity at the transducer (filename.sv_tdcr) and sound velocity profiler information (filename.svp).
    Command line: RT -packdown -background -WRITE -em1000 -CnC -prefix RawFiles/ -suffix _raw.all -out ProcessedFiles/InputFilenamePrefix InputFilenamePrefix
    2. Edit the navigation data on-screen using the SwathEd routine jview to remove undesirable points, including turns at the ends of survey lines. Jview also rejects stray GPS fixes outside of the survey area, as set by the operator.
    Command line: jview -rejectnav -navedit filename.nav
    3. Make a copy of the edited navigation, and then create a new navigation file that has the bad fixes deleted from it.
    Command line: mv filename.nav filename.nav_all Command line: appendNav -goodonly -comp filename.nav filename.nav_all
    4. Merge the edited navigation back into the file containing the depth soundings using just the prefix of the filename. The location of the antenna relative to the motion reference unit is also entered here, along with a maximum time gap (in seconds) allowed between navigation fixes.
    Command line: mergeNav -ahead 5.379 -right 3.851 -below 4.244 -time_limit 300 filename
    5. Edit the multibeam soundings for each trackline. SwathEd displays blocks of data across and along the trackline. Anomalous points were identified by comparison to other points and by an understanding of the sea floor geology and morphology. Anomalous soundings were removed.
    Command line: SwathEd filename.merged
    This methodology was followed in all years of data acquisition: 1996, 1998, and 2000 Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: William W. Danforth
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2274 (voice)
    bdanforth@usgs.gov
    Date: 2007 (process 2 of 8)
    Map the bathymetric soundings from each processed data file onto a digital terrain model (DTM) in the Mercator projection using weigh_grid with grid nodes spaced at 12 meters. The weigh_grid program creates a DTM by summing up the weighted contributions of all the provided data into the DTM. The weighted contributions only extend to a user defined region around the true location of the estimate (the cutoff). The weight of an individual point contribution decays away from the node location based on the order of the Butterworth (inverse weighting) filter (-power n), the width of the flat topped radius of the weighting function (-lambda n.n), and the absolute cutoff limit (-cutoff) that will be used for data points contributing to a node. In addition, each beam/other value can be pre-weighted if required to account for its reliability. A custom weight file for each beam is created by hand and input into the weigh_grid program using the -custom_weight option. Three files are created which are used by the weigh_grid program. An ".r4" file, which contains the grid node values in binary format, an "r4_weights" file, and an "r4_weight_depth" file. To do the summing of the weights, the .r4_weights file contains the sums of the weights for each data point contributing to the node, and the .r4_weight_depth file contains the sum of the weights x the depths. The solution is: weight_depth/weights for each node. For more information, visit the OMG website at <http://www.omg.unb.ca>.
    First a blank binary grid and the weights and weight_depth files must be created:
    Command line: make_blank -float gridFile
    This command commences a dialog to enable an 8-bit image and input the map boundaries and resolution. The program also prompts for the projection type and parameters to be used creating the binary map file (custom Mercator projection, central longitude of -75 degrees, latitude of true scale 40 degrees north).
    The next command creates the weights and weight_depth files associated with the binary grid: Command line: tor4 gridFile
    These two steps create all three files with a gridFile prefix.
    Next, each individual data file (.merged suffix) is added to the grid using weigh_grid. The grid of Hudson Shelf Valle data were created with a grid node spacing of 12 meters, a cutoff radius of 24 meters, and an inner radius to the weighting function of 6 meters:
    Command line: weigh_grid -omg -tide -coeffs -mindep -2 -maxdep -800 -beam_mask -beam_weight -custom_weight EM1000_Weights -butter -power 2 -cutoff 24 -lambda 6 gridFile filename.merged Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: William W. Danforth
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2274 (voice)
    bdanforth@usgs.gov
    Date: 2009 (process 3 of 8)
    Processing steps 1 and 2 produced a preliminary bathymetry dataset. Processing to further edit the data, correct for tides, and to produce a final grid of the merged 1996, 1998, and 2000 data included:
    1. Correct errors in soundings due to sound refraction, caused by variations in sound velocity profile, using the SwathEd refraction tool. These artifacts can be recognized in a cross-swath profile of a relatively flat patch of sea floor. When viewing the swath data across a profile, the sea floor will appear to have a "frown" or "smile" when in fact the data should be flat across the profile. Insufficient and/or erroneous sound velocity information, which is usually due to widely spaced or non-existent velocity profiles within an area, results in an under or over-estimate of water depth which increases with distance from the center of the swath. For a discussion of how this effect can be recognized in a swath bathymetric data file, see < http://www.omg.unb.ca/AAAS/UNB_Seafloor_Mapping.html>.
    2. Remove erroneous soundings that were not edited in the field using the SwathEd program.
    3. Adjust the measured elevations for tidal fluctuations by subtracting tidal elevations and mean sea level predicted by the ADCIRC tidal model (Westerink and others 1994; Luettich and Westerink, 1995; see cross references). A MATLAB script was used to interpolate the ADCIRC constituents along the ship track and then calculate the tidal elevation and mean sea level at the time of the survey. The vertical datum of the ADCIRC correction is NAVD88.
    Using the adjusted tidal elevations, create a binary tide file to be used in merging the tidal heights with the bathymetric soundings.
    Command line: binTide -year YYYY asciiTideFile BinaryTideFile
    The program mergeTide brings the swath soundings to NAVD88 and corrects for predicted tide.
    Command line (tides): mergeTide -tide BinaryTideFile filename.merged
    4. Correct near-nadir beams for depth offset caused by error in EEPROM programming for 1996 and 1998 datasets (see Logical Consistency Report)
    Command line: deHump -depscale 0.0105 filename.merged
    5. Create a final 12-meter grid of the edited bathymetric soundings from each line file (filename.merged) using the SwathEd routine weigh_grid.
    Command line: weigh_grid -fresh_start -omg -tide -coeffs -mindep -2 -maxdep -800 -beam_mask -beam_weight -custom_weight EM1000_Weights -butter -power 2 -cutoff 24 -lambda 6 gridFile filename.merged
    Note: Errors in the UNB gridding software were identified in 2003 and 2007. These data were processed with corrected software. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: William W. Danforth
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2274 (voice)
    bdanforth@usgs.gov
    Date: 2016 (process 4 of 8)
    Convert binary bathymetric grid to Esri ASCII raster format:
    Command line: r4toASCII gridFile.r4
    This creates a file called gridFile.asc.
    Creation of Esri grid
    An Esri bathymetry grid was created by importing data from Esri ASCII raster format into Esri grid format. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: William W. Danforth
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2274 (voice)
    bdanforth@usgs.gov
    Date: 2016 (process 5 of 8)
    The SwathEd processing software produced depth as positive values. Change depth from positive to negative using the Negate function in ArcToolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Math - Trigonometric (ArcGIS 9.3). Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Bradford Butman
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2212 (voice)
    Data sources produced in this process:
    • hsv_bathy12m
    Date: 30-Jan-2017 (process 6 of 8)
    ArcGIS 10.3.1 was used to export the grid to a 32-bit TIFF image. The extent and spatial reference were set to the original dataset, as was the cell size. The compression type was set to LZW. The NoData value is the default -3.40282306074e+38. The process also creates the TIFF world file automatically. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 20-Jul-2018 (process 7 of 8)
    USGS Thesaurus keywords added to the keyword section. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 13-Apr-2026 (process 8 of 8)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword (20200810). Removed the web services distribution formats in preparation for ScienceBase moving platforms and those services will no longer be available (20260413). Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Butman, Bradford, Middleton, T.J., Thieler, E.R., and Schwab, W.C., 2003, Topography, shaded-relief and backscatter intensity of the Hudson Shelf Valley, Offshore of New York: Open-File Report 03-372, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Thieler, E.R., Butman, Bradford, Schwab, W.C., Allison, M.A., Driscoll, N.W., Donnelly, J.P., and Uchupi, Elazar, 2007, A catastrophic meltwater flood event and the formation of the Hudson Shelf Valley: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246 (2007), 120-136; DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.10.030, Elsevier Ltd., Amsterdam.

    Online Links:

    Butman, Bradford, Danforth, W.W., Schwab, W.C., and ten Brink, M.B., 1998, Multibeam bathymetric and backscatter maps of the upper Hudson Shelf Valley and adjacent shelf, offshore of New York: Open-File Report 98-616, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Butman, Bradford, Danforth, W.W., Knowles, S.C., May, Brian, and Serrett, Laurie, 2002, Sea floor topography and backscatter intensity of the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), offshore of New York, based on multibeam surveys conducted in 1996, 1998, and 2000: Open-File Report 00-503, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Butman, Bradford, Twichell, D.C., Rona, P.A., Tucholke, B.E., Middleton, T.J., and Robb, J.R., 2006, Sea floor topography and backscatter intensity of the Hudson Canyon region offshore of New York and New Jersey: Open-File Report 2004-1441, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Luettich, R.A., Jr., and Westerink, J.J., 1995, Continental shelf scale convergence studies with a barotropic tidal model, quantitative skill assessment for coastal ocean models: Coastal and Estuarine Studies Series v. 48, American Geophysical Union Press, Washington, D.C..

    Westerink, J.J., Luettich, R.A., Jr., and Mucini, J.S., 1994, Modeling tides in the western North Atlantic using unstructured graded grids: Tellus 46(2), International Meteorological Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

    Online Links:

    Clarke, J.H., 1998, SwathEd: Ocean Mapping Group, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada.

    Online Links:

    Butman, Bradford, Danforth, W.W., Clarke, J.E.H., and Signell, R.P., 2017, Bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the Historic Area Remediation Site in 1996, 1998, and 2000: data release DOI:10.5066/F74B2ZGX, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    This publication contains edition 2.0 of the bathymetry and derivative datasets that were originally released as part of Open-File Report 00-503. Edition 2.0 was created using revised processing software to correct a projection error in edition 1.0. The stretch for the images in edition 2.0 was also changed so that 255 is no data.

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    These data were navigated with a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) which is typically accurate to +/- 3 meters, horizontally. Repeated surveys of the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) (Butman and others, 2017), made on the same cruises and using the same instrumentation as the surveys of the Hudson Shelf Valley, were used to qualitatively assess the horizontal accuracy of the 1996, 1998, and 2000 surveys. The difference in location of sea floor features in the HARS identified in the 1996 and 1998 surveys were typically 5 m or less, as expected when navigating with DGPS. The difference in location of same features in the 1998 and 2000 survey were typically 10-20 m and in the along-track direction of the survey. This analysis suggests that the data collected in 1996 and 1998 surveys of the Hudson Shelf Valley are accurate to +/- 3 m horizontally, and the data collected in the 2000 survey accurate to 10-20 m horizontally.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    These data have been corrected for vessel motion (roll, pitch, heave, yaw). The theoretical vertical resolution of the Simrad EM-1000 multibeam echosounder is 1% of water depth. The soundings were also corrected for tidal fluctuations using the ADCIRC tidal model. The model produces harmonic constituents and a mean component relative to the NAVD88 datum. Correcting survey water levels using ADCIRC-predicted water levels are thus relative to NAVD88 datum. Deviation from the NAVD88 datum will be due errors in the ADCIRC correction, other fluctuations in sea level during the survey, and deviation of mean sea level from NAVD88 due to ocean dynamics.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    This grid includes bathymetry data collected with a Simrad EM 1000 multibeam echosounder on Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center field activities 1996-043-FA, 1998-015-FA, and 2000-015-FA that have been merged together. There are a few data gaps in the grid due to incomplete coverage by the multibeam system. Other datasets from the survey of the Hudson Shelf Valley may be found in Butman and others (2017) (see larger work citation).
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    All data were processed in the same manner. Some features in the multibeam data are artifacts of data collection and environmental conditions. They include small highs and lows and unnatural-looking features, and patterns oriented parallel or perpendicular to survey tracklines. The orientation of the tracklines is sometimes identified by the faint parallel stripes in the image. During data acquisition in 1996 and 1998, the electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) within the transceiver that controls the beam launch angles was programmed with incorrect parameters for the outer ten beams on the port and starboard sides. This caused depth soundings to be deeper for these outer beams by approximately 0.1 m; these deeper depths were corrected post-acquisition by a SwathEd (Clarke, 1998; see cross reference) program called dehump, which pulls up the outer beams.

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 These data are not to be used for navigation purposes.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center
    Denver, CO

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? hsv_bath12m.zip: contains the Esri binary grid hsv_bath12m, comprised of the hsv_bath12m folder and an info folder, the bathymetry as a 32-bit GeoTIFF (hsv_bath12m and hsv_bath12m.tfw), hsv_bath12m_browsegraphic.jpg, and CSDGM FGDC-compliant metadata in XML, HTML, and TXT formats.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the U.S. Geological Survey, nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    The grid of bathymetry is compressed into a zip file (hsv_bath12m.zip). To utilize these data, the user must have software capable of uncompressing the zip file and importing and viewing an Esri ArcRaster grid. The grid consists of two folders, one with the "grid name," and one "info" folder. The two folders must be uncompressed to the same folder.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 13-Apr-2026
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
Attn: Bradford Butman
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Woods Hole, MA

508-548-8700 x2212 (voice)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the metadata contact is no longer with the USGS
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/SB_data_release/DR_F7C53J1Z/hsv_bath12m_meta.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Tue May 12 16:23:30 2026