Sidescan sonar and navigation field data collected during R/V Caleta 91-1 cruise (10-14 June, 1991)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Sidescan sonar and navigation field data collected during R/V Caleta 91-1 cruise (10-14 June, 1991)
Abstract:
This CD-ROM contains copies of the navigation, bathymetry and field sidescan sonar data collected during the U.S. Geological Survey's R/V CALETA 91-1 cruise. The cruise was conducted during 10-14 June, 1991, and marked the initiation of a major program to be conducted primarily by personnel from Rutgers University to monitor the biology, chemistry and physical processes of this inner shelf setting. The study area was within the area 39d26'N - 39d30'N and 74d13'W - 74d17'W, and covered a 3 by 1.5 nm area on the inner continental shelf offshore of Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey.
The purpose of the project was to study the sedimentology and depositional processes of an inner shelf sand ridge offshore of Little Egg Inlet, NJ to understand sand ridge development and how they are affected by modern oceanographic conditions. This cruise marked the initiation of a major program to be conducted primarily by personnel from Rutgers University to monitor the biology, chemistry and physical processes of this inner shelf setting. In light of this program, data from this cruise provide a baseline geologic setting upon which to base the sample design for the rest of the program.
Supplemental_Information:
More information about the associated field activity can be found at: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/services/activity.php?fan=1991-015-FA
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Paskevich, Valerie F., Twichell, David C., and Able, Kenneth W., 1997, Sidescan sonar and navigation field data collected during R/V Caleta 91-1 cruise (10-14 June, 1991): Open-File Report 97-868, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resourced Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested citation: Paskevich, V.F., Twichell, D.C., and Able, K.W., 1997, Sidescan sonar and navigation field data collected during R/V Caleta 91-1 cruise (10-14 June,1991): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-868, 2 computer laser optical discs ;4 3/4 in., in pockets in plastic envelope (14 x 14 cm.), https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr97868.
    This metadata file was written at a later date based on the information contained in the Open-File Report.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -75.2089
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -74.2151
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.5047
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.4434
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 10-Jun-1991
    Ending_Date: 14-Jun-1991
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: tabular data; digital data system format
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The format of the bathymetry file is as follows:
    Field 1: Date and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) (day_of_year:hour:minute:second)
    Field 2: Latitude recorded as decimal degrees; south latitude as negative (i.e., 39.45350)
    Field 3: Longitude recorded as decimal degrees; west longtitude as negative (i.e., -74.24980)
    Field 4: Speed (computed from the navigation)
    Field 5: Heading (computed from the navigation)
    Field 6: Water Depth** (observed values derived from an Odem digital echo sounder).
    Field 7: Tide Corrected Depth** values
    ** Depths are in meters.
    The archived sidescan sonar data are split and stored on two separate disks.
    DISK 1: Contains the sidescan sonar imagery for lines 1 - 9.
    DATE/TIME: 1991 6 10 12:27 - - 1991 6 11 12:29
    and 1991 6 13 13:53 - - 1991 6 13 15:35

    DISK 2: Contains the sidescan sonar imagery for lines 10 - 19.
    DATE/TIME: 1991 6 13 15:35 - - 1991 6 13 18:50
    and 1991 6 14 9:01 - - 1991 6 14 14:23
    The navigation is an ASCII file with eight fields separated by one or more spaces. The data format is described below.
    Field 1: latitude recorded as signed decimal degrees (i.e., 39.45070); southern latitude as negative values
    Field 2: longitude recorded as signed decimal degrees (i.e., -74.27820); western longitude as negative values
    Field 3: year of data collection recorded as a 4 digit value (ie. 1991)
    Field 4: month of data collection
    Field 5: day of data collection
    Field 6: hour of data collection; valid data range of 0-23
    Field 7: minute of data collection; valid data range of 0-59
    Field 8: second of data collection; valid data range of 0-59
    The report also contains previews of each line of sidescan sonar data in JPEG format. The files are a reduced version of the sidescan sonar swath. Images were reduced 15% and saved in JPEG format. No contrast stretch has been applied.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    Metadata writer. Information copied directly from the readme.txt file provided in the Open-File Report

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Valerie F. Paskevich
    • David C. Twichell
    • Kenneth W. Able
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Valerie Paskevich
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

To provide sicescan sonar field data, navigation data, and bathymetry data.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 1991 (process 1 of 3)
    Description of the cruise from the cruise report contained in the Open-File Report:
    This cruise was the shakedown cruise for Rutgers University's new coastal research vessel. The CALETA is a 30 ft vessel with an inboard/outboard drive and a small pilot house and space for two bunks in the forepeak of the boat. She did not have enough electric power for our gear, so we brought our own generator which had to be set up on the fantail. Lab space was very confined, but we managed to get everything aboard and operational. Weather was a more serious problem. When seas reached about 3 feet, the data quality was degraded enough to require retreiving the gear and waiting for improved weather. One day was a complete loss due to weather, and during the other 4 days we surveyed for a total of about 15 hours, and collected about 115 km of trackline data.
    The objectives of surveying the surficial geology and shallow subsurface stratigrapphy of this inner shelf sand ridge were successfully achieved although we were unable to survey a second sand ridge as we originally had hoped because of the time lost to weather.
    The sidescan sonar images revealed two basic facies in the study area. Much of the area was covered by a low-backscatter facies, but high-backscatter bands and patches were found on the seaward side of the sand ridge, in the trough on the seaward side of the sand ridge and around its northern end, and on the face of the slope shoreward of the sand ridge. The high-backscatter bands were discontinuous, and in places appeared to cross eachother giving the appearance of a braided stream. Ripples were not apparent in the high backscatter bands, and if they were present they either had been smoothed over by biological activity or were too small to be resolved by the sidescan sonar system. The high backscatter areas had no apparent relief with the surrounding sea floor as has typically been seen in other places. The apparent absence of ripples and the lack of relief along the edges of these bands may indicate that they were relatively old.
    The 3.5-kHz subbottom profiles showed a southeasterly trending buried channel below the study area, and three distinctive shallow subsurface acoustic facies in the study area. The sand ridge itself was covered by an acoustically transparent lens that reached as much as 3 m in thickness, and pinched out along its edges. The upper 5-6 m of the subbottom section of the northeastern half of the study area away from the sand ridge was characterized by an acoustically laminated facies. The southeastern half of the study area was characterized by a prolonged acoustic return. The distribution of these echo character patterns did not correspond with the patterns seen on the sidescan sonar images, but instead appear to record a longer period of stratigraphic differences in the evolution of this section of the inner shelf.
    Date: 1991 (process 2 of 3)
    Information from the readme.txt file contained in the Open-File Report:
    Along track bathymetry collected during the cruise: The data were collected using an Odem 200kHz fathometer and were logged every 10 seconds with the navigation on 3.5" diskettes. The bathymetry data has been adjusted to mean sea-level based on tide information from Atlantic City, NJ. ***although the report indicates tide corrections, it doesn't indicate the tidal datum the bathymetry was corrected to.
    Collected sidescan sonar data: These data were collected using a Klein 100-kHz sidescan sonar system and were logged on a Triton Technologies, Inc., QMIPS-DSP system. The sidescan sonar data were collected at a resolution of 100 m per side. The sidescan sonar data are 8-bit binary, and the format is summarized in the writeup in a text file located in the DOC directory. The data description is also available in HTML format. The archived sidescan sonar data are split and stored on two separate disks.
    Ship navigation collected during the sidescan sonar componenet of the field program: USGS differential GPS system. The shorebased station for the GPS was the Coast Guard beacon at Cape Henlopen, DE. Navigation fixes are at 1 minute intervals. There are four individual files. These files correspond only to the days that the sidescan sonar data were collected during the survey.
    Date: 2026 (process 3 of 3)
    The original report did not contain a metadata file. This file was created based on information in the report. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

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?
    The report indicates that navigation was acquired with both differential GPS and Megapulse Loran-C. In the description of the navigation format, the report indicates: the ship navigation was collected with the USGS differential GPS system at approximately 1 minute intervals. The shorebased station for the GPS was the Coast Guard beacon at Cape Henlopen, DE.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Not readily available from the information in the publication.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Not readily available from the information in the publication.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints No access constraints. Please see 'Distribution Information' for details.
Use_Constraints These data are marked with a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal License. These data are in the public domain and do not have any use constraints. Users are advised to read the dataset's metadata thoroughly to understand appropriate use and data limitations.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Valerie Paskevich
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: Space delimited text files for navigation and bathymetry. in format text Size: 1
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr97868
      Data format: The QMIPS data files are 8-bit binary with the description of the format in the Open-File Report. These files contain the sidescan sonar data collected at 100 m swath per side. in format QMIPS
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr97868
      Data format: These are previews of each line of sidescan sonar data. in format JPEG
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr97868
    • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 02-Jun-2026
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA
USA

(508) 548-8700 x2251 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the contact person 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/open_file_report/ofr1997-868/of97-868_meta.faq.html>
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