Nahant to Gloucester, Massachusetts Swath Bathymetry of the South Essex Survey Area (se_5mbath)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Nahant to Gloucester, Massachusetts Swath Bathymetry of the South Essex Survey Area (se_5mbath)
Abstract:
These data are high-resolution bathymetric soundings of the seafloor offshore of Massachusetts, from Nahant to Gloucester. Approximately 127 km² of the inner shelf were mapped in the nearshore region between the 10m and 40-m isobath.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Andrews, Brian D., 2005, Nahant to Gloucester, Massachusetts Swath Bathymetry of the South Essex Survey Area (se_5mbath): Open-File Report 2005-1293, 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.

    Barnhardt, Walter A., Andrews, Brian D., and Butman, Bradford, 2006, High-Resolution Geologic Mapping of the Inner Continental Shelf: Nahant to Gloucester, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2005-1293, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.937266
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.664555
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.575257
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.391023
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 22-Sep-2003
    Ending_Date: 07-May-2004
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition of 2 separate field activities: 20030922 to 20031015 and 20040412 to 20040507
  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 4000 x 4400 x 1, 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: 19
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -69.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000
      False_Easting: 500000.000000
      False_Northing: 0.000000
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 5.000000
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 5.000000
      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:
      Depth_System_Definition:
      Depth_Datum_Name: Mean lower low water
      Depth_Resolution: 9999
      Depth_Distance_Units: Information unavailable from original metadata.
      Depth_Encoding_Method: Implicit coordinate
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Brian D. Andrews
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Brian Andrews
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Marine Geographer
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2348 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    bandrews@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These data were collected under a cooperative agreement with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and the U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center. High resolution bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and seismic profile data were collected over 127 km² area covering a portion of the South Essex Ocean Sanctuary to characterize the surface and subsurface of the seafloor for regional geologic framework investigations.
Bathymetric data were collected during two different surveys. Survey RAFA03007 began Monday, 22 Sep 2003 (JD267) and ended on Tuesday, 14 Oct 2003 (JD287). RAFA04002 began 17 Apr 2004 (JD 108) and ended on 2 May 2004 (JD123).

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: unknown (process 1 of 8)
    Bathymetric data were corrected for variations in the speed of sound throughout the water column; sound velocity profiles were acquired throughout the survey area using an Applied MicroSystems SVPlus Sound Velocimeter. These data were downloaded and reformatted to the required format needed for use within University of New Brunswick's Ocean Mapping Group (OMG) SwathEd multibeam processing software. The raw Submetrix 2000 Series data were "unraveled" and reformatted into the OMG format. This process creates several files on disk:
    1) bathymetric soundings 2) raw sidescan backscatter 3) navigation 4) parameter files describing the configuration of the system (i.e. offsets between motion reference unit and GPS antenna, etc). This process also incorporates the sound velocity profiles in order to properly trace the rays given the structure of the water column.
    Date: unknown (process 2 of 8)
    The OMG formatted bathymetric data were then graphically edited using the SwathEd multibeam processing software. This enabled editing on a "ping-by-ping" basis, both in the across- and along-track dimension. Spurious or erroneous data were removed. The navigation data were also graphically examined for each line of data.
    Date: unknown (process 3 of 8)
    Soundings data were gridded using the weigh_grid routines from Swathed. Soundings were corrected to mean lower low water during the weigh_grid operation using the real time kinematic differential Global positioning navigation files.
    The final weigh_grid parameters used were: weigh_grid -omg -coeffs -butter -lambda 5 -cutoff 20
    Max_incidence angle was not used in most lines to use all of the swath. Only lines from rough days or big heave were gridded with a small incidence angle to maximize the good data from adjacent lanes and reduce the noisy data.
    Date: unknown (process 4 of 8)
    OMG grid format (*.r4) converted to ASCII raster format using the script UTMr4toAscii for import to ArcGIS 9.0
    Date: 22-Dec-2017 (process 5 of 8)
    Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.36 flagged. This is necessary to enable the metadata to be successfully harvested for various data catalogs. In some cases, this meant adding text "Information unavailable" or "Information unavailable from original metadata" for those required fields that were left blank. Other minor edits were probably performed (title, publisher, publication place, etc.). Added the link to the data catalog page in the Identification section. The link to the larger work citation had to be fixed. Fixed the link to the data in the Identification and Distribution sections. The distribution format name was modified in an attempt to be more consistent with other metadata files of the same data format. The depth system definition was incomplete. Generic values (such as 9999) were used to meet the standard. The metadata date (but not the metadata creator) was edited to reflect the date of these changes. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Compare the metadata dates to determine which metadata file is most recent. 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 6 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: 18-Nov-2019 (process 7 of 8)
    Crossref DOI link was added as the first link in the metadata. 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: 08-Sep-2020 (process 8 of 8)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. 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?

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?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Ship motion was recorded with a TSS DMS 2-05 Attitude Sensor, mounted on a head above the interferometric Submetrix 2000 Series transducers. Navigation was recorded using Real Time Kinematic Differential Global Positioning System (RTK-DGPS). The interferometric sonar is an angle-measuring system; depth accuracy decreases with increasing horizontal range. The combined angular accuracy of the Submetrix 2000 Series and the TSS DMS 2-05 attitude sensor is documented as 0.1 degrees. Assuming a constant angular accuracy, and using the International Hydrographic Standard (IHO) of a required 0.3 meter accuracy in < 30 meter water depth, all data collected within the survey fall within the IHO accuracy standards. However, vertical accuracy is also directly affected by the accuracy of both the navigation system and tidal measurements. RTK DGPS vertical accuracy is assumed to be 0.2 meters. Tidal elevations were derived from RTK -DGPS heights sent from a survey-specific base station at the Eastern Point Light House in Gloucester.
    The RTK corrected signal was sent from a USGS survey-specific base station at the lighthouse on Eastern Point Lighthouse. The base station occupied a DMA monument, however, the x, & y positions were calculated for that location using a 3 day average of 12 hour data sets using the Online Positioning User Service (OPUS, National Geodetic Survey) solution. Tidal elevations were calculated from NOAA Tidal Station #8441841 using the same OPUS solution and then applied to the corrected elevations for the base station at Eastern Point Lighthouse. Antenna heights were referenced to Mean Tidal Level (MTL), and later reduced to Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) for easier comparison of NOAA nautical charts.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Information unavailable from original metadata.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    These data have not been quantitatively compared to previous hydrographic data, although they generally agree with qualitative comparison of published NOAA charts.

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 Data are not intended for navigational use.
These data should not be used at resolutions for which it is not intended.
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as the source of this information.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Brian Andrews
    U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Science Center
    Marine Geographer
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2348 (voice)
    bandrews@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Downloadable Data
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. 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?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: AIG (version ArcGIS 9.0) ESRI Raster GRID format Size: 10
      Network links: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1293/zip/se_bath.zip
      Media you can order: DVD-ROM (format UDF)
      Note: None
    • Cost to order the data: None

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data are available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) GRID format. The user must have software capable of importing and processing the data file.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 18-Mar-2024
Metadata author:
Brian Andrews
U.S. Geological Survey
Marine Geographer
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA
USA

508-548-8700 x2348 (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 person is no longer with USGS. (updated on 20240318)
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/ofr2005-1293/se_bathy_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Mon Mar 25 16:05:23 2024