Tracklines of swath bathymetry collected by the U.S. Geological Survey - Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center offshore of the Elizabeth Islands, MA, 2010 (2010-003-FA_Swath_tracklines.shp, ESRI polyline shapefile)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Tracklines of swath bathymetry collected by the U.S. Geological Survey - Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center offshore of the Elizabeth Islands, MA, 2010 (2010-003-FA_Swath_tracklines.shp, ESRI polyline shapefile)
Abstract:
These data were collected under a cooperative agreement between the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC). Initiated in 2003, the primary objective of this program is to develop regional geologic framework information for the management of coastal and marine resources. Accurate data and maps of seafloor geology are important first steps toward protecting fish habitat, delineating marine resources, and assessing environmental changes due to natural or human impacts. The project is focused on the inshore waters of coastal Massachusetts, primarily in water depths of 2-30 meters. Data collected for the mapping cooperative have been released in a series of USGS Open-File Reports (<http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/coastal_mass/>). The data collected in this study area located around the western extent of the Elizabeth Islands includes high resolution bathymetry, acoustic-backscatter intensity, seismic-reflection, and navigation data. These data were collected during a nearshore cruise in September 2010 onboard the R/V Rafael using the following equipment: an SEA Ltd SwathPlus interferometric sonar (234 kHz), Klein 3000 dual frequency sidescan sonar, an Edgetech 424 chirp subbottom profiling system, and 4 GPS antennae. More information about the cruise conducted as part of the project: Geologic Mapping of the Seafloor Offshore of Massachusetts can be found on the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Field Activity webpage: <http://quashnet.er.usgs.gov/data/2010/10003/>
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    U.S. Geological Survey, 2012, Tracklines of swath bathymetry collected by the U.S. Geological Survey - Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center offshore of the Elizabeth Islands, MA, 2010 (2010-003-FA_Swath_tracklines.shp, ESRI polyline shapefile): Open-File Report 2011-1184, 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.

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A., Twichell, David C., Foster, David S., Worley, Charles R., Irwin, Barry J., and Danforth, William W., 2012, High-resolution geophysical data from the sea floor surrounding the western Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2011-1184, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.992605
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.849235
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.460836
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.388663
  3. What does it look like?
    http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1184/GIS_catalog/tracklines/subx_trks.png (PNG)
    Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Swath interferometric trackline navigation offshore of the Elizabeth Islands, MA
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 10-Sep-2010
    Ending_Date: 16-Sep-2010
    Currentness_Reference:
    Data were not collected on 20100915 due to weather conditions.
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • String (112)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. 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.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    2010-003-FA_Swath_tracklines
    Tracklines for swath bathymetric data (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI) Coordinates defining the features.
    Filename
    line and file number for corresponding bathymetric filename. This information is used during data acquisition, storage, and processing. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey) Sequential line and file numbers used to distinguish tracklines
    JD
    Julian Day of trackline collection (Julian day is the integer number representing the interval of time in days since January 1 of the year) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    Range of values
    Minimum:253
    Maximum:259
    Units:day
    Resolution:1
    length
    Length of profile in meters (UTM Zone 19N, WGS84) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    Range of values
    Minimum:142.76
    Maximum:11640.95
    Units:meters
    Resolution:0.01

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?
    David C. Twichell
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Oceanographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2266 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    dtwichell@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

This data set contains tracklines for just over 253 km of swath bathymetric data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, MA during a 2010 geophysical cruise offshore of the Elizabeth Islands, MA. These data will be used to characterize the seafloor within the area

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Information unavailable from original metadata. (source 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey, unknown, Information unavailable from original metadata..

    Type_of_Source_Media: disc
    Source_Contribution:
    Trackline acquisition at sea (2010): These bathymetric data were collected with a SEA Ltd Swathplus interferometric sonar (234 kHz) mounted on the bow of the R/V Rafael of Woods Hole, MA. The data were acquired with SwathPlus Software (version: 3.7.0. Tracklines are spaced 100 m apart in the shore parallel direction.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2010 (process 1 of 7)
    Navigation was extracted from the bathymetric data (raw *SXR format) in SwathPlus (version: 3.7) using the 'output position file' function Person who carried out this activity:
    Elizabeth A. Pendleton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    (508) 548-8700x2259 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    ependleton@usgs.gov
    Date: 2010 (process 2 of 7)
    Navigation output from Swathplus (version: 3.7.0) was concatenated together for all files and converted to comma-separated value text using AWK for input to ArcGIS (version 9.3). In ArcCatalog (9.3), navigation text was converted to a point feature class by right-clicking on the comma separated text file -- Create Feature Class -- from XY table. Person who carried out this activity:
    Elizabeth A. Pendleton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    (508) 548-8700x2259 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    ependleton@usgs.gov
    Date: 2010 (process 3 of 7)
    XTools Pro (version 7.1.0) was then used within ArcMap (version 9.3) to convert the navigation points to a trackline shapefile. The trackline shapefiles were edited to remove spurious fixes, and a length field was created and populated using 'Calculate Geometry', which can be accessed by right-clicking on the attribute field name in the table view. . The calculation was based on UTM, Zone 19N, WGS84 in the units of meters. Person who carried out this activity:
    Elizabeth A. Pendleton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    (508) 548-8700 x2259 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    ependleton@usgs.gov
    Date: 01-Jun-2016 (process 4 of 7)
    Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.32 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.). Fixed a link to the project page in the abstract. The source information was incomplete and had to be modified to meet the standard. The distribution format name was modified in an attempt to be more consistent with other metadata files of the same data format. 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 Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 20-Jul-2018 (process 5 of 7)
    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 6 of 7)
    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 7 of 7)
    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?
    The navigation for these data was acquired with a Coda Octopus F180 Differential Global Positioning System + Wide Area Augmentation System (DGPS+WAAS); they are accurate to + or - 1 to 2 meters, horizontally. All DGPS data are referenced to WGS84, and vertical distance between the pole-mounted interferometric sonar head, 0.5m below the sea surface, and the DGPS antenna located on the same pole on the bow of the R/V Rafeal, 2.5 m above the sea surface, are corrected.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Navigation from all the bathymetric tracklines from cruise 2010-003-FA was used to generate this shapefile, however, l13f1 and l22f1 were corrupted during acquisition, so these lines are not complete. The generator shorted out causing write errors in the raw swath file.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Any spurious data points were removed during processing.

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 Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator of the dataset.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Elizabeth A. Pendleton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    (508) 548-8700x2259 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    ependleton@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?
    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, 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?
    This zip file contains data available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) polyline shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from ESRI at www.esri.com.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 18-Mar-2024
Metadata author:
Elizabeth Pendleton
U.S. Geological Survey
Geologist
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA

(508) 548-8700x2259 (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/ofr2011-1184/2010-003-FA_Swath_tracklines.shp.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Mon Mar 25 16:05:39 2024