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High Resolution Bathymetric Mapping of South Florida Estuarine and Coastal Systems

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Frequently-anticipated questions:


What does this data set describe?

Title:
High Resolution Bathymetric Mapping of South Florida Estuarine and Coastal Systems
Abstract:
The plan to acquire bathymetric data for the Caloosahatchee Estuary and Estero Bay areas is to employ two methods which have been developed by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). The USGS method is an acoustic based system named System for Accurate Nearshore Depth Surveys (SANDS), and the NASA method is an airborne LIDAR system named Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL).

The plan is to use the EAARL system to map shallow (less than 1.5 secchi depth) and non-turbid areas in Estero Bay and nearshore areas. The SANDS system will be used in deeper areas and those which are turbid which includes the Caloosahatchee River.

  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Hansen, Mark, Unpublished Material, High Resolution Bathymetric Mapping of South Florida Estuarine and Coastal Systems.

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -82.125
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -81.625
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 26.875
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 25.75

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 01-Oct-2002
    Ending_Date: 30-Sep-2005
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      Indirect_Spatial_Reference: southwest and western Florida coastal systems

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

  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)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    This project is being worked in conjunction with the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). Project personnel include Gina Peery in FY 2004.

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Mark Hansen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Oceanographer
    600 Fourth Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    USA

    727 803-8747 x 3036 (voice)
    727 803-2030 (FAX)
    mhansen@usgs.gov


Why was the data set created?

High resolution, GPS based bathymetric surveying is a proven method to map river, lake, and ocean floor elevations. Of primary interest to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is the quantification of the present day bathymetry of Caloosahatchee Estuary and Estero Bay regions. This information can be used by water management decision-makers to develop of Minimum Flows and Levels (MFL) and better preserve fragile habitats.

The areas in and around the Caloosahatchee Estuary and Estero Bay Watershed have undergone dramatic increases in the rate of residential and commercial development as well as population growth during the past 15 years. As a result, a series of initiatives have been proposed to balance development and environmental interests in the region. Several recent initiatives including the development MFL and the Southwest Florida Feasibility Study (SWFFS) necessitate the development of hydrodynamic models of coastal waters in the Caloosahatchee Estuary and Estero Bay areas. One of the important data requirements for these models is the bathymetry. The information available at this time is dated (the last complete bathymetric survey is over 100 years old) and needs to be upgraded with a new survey. In addition, recommendations of the Estero Bay and Watershed Assessment completed in November of 1999 recommended the development of a Bay hydrodynamic and water quality model. Updated river, bay, and coastal bathymetry is required for these efforts.

The area for bathymetry collection and interpretation includes Estero Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Pine Island Sound, offshore regions of Sanibel and Captive Islands, and the Caloosahatchee, Loxahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers. In addition, a need for an Estero Bay and Charlotte Harbor estuarine mixing model has been identified by the Southwest Florida Regional Restoration Coordination Team and the Southwest Florida Feasibility Study. In order to create an accurate numerical model, current bathymetric data must be obtained. Bathymetry data is also needed for the creation of a seagrass vision maps (an NEP effort) and to populate the species response models being created as assessment tools for several restoration programs.


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: Not complete (process 1 of 1)
    The plan to acquire bathymetric data for the area is to employ two methods which have been developed by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). The USGS method is an acoustic based system named System for Accurate Nearshore Depth Surveys (SANDS), and the NASA method is an airborne LIDAR system named Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL).

    The USGS has developed a hydrographic survey system specifically designed to map in very shallow water. The system can acquire data in water depths of approximately 25cm, but in practice boat/motor draft limitations prevent surveying in water depths less than 45cm.

    EAARL is a new airborne lidar that provides unprecedented capabilities to bays, the nearshore shoreface, benthic habitats, coastal vegetation, and sandy beaches. The EAARL sensor suite includes a raster-scanning-water penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking color digital camera, a hyperspectral scanner, and an array of precision kinematic GPS receivers which provide for sub-meter geo-referencing of each laser and hyper-spectral sample. EAARL has the unique real-time capability to detect, capture, and automatically adapt to each laser return backscatter over a large signal dynamic range and keyed to considerable variations in vertical complexity of the surface target. EAARL limited to water depths greater than 50 cm and can penetrate the water column to approximately 1.5 secchi disk depth. The lidar has a ground footprint of 30cm with vertical and horizontal accuracies equal to the SANDS system. The swath width is 250m which converts to a spatial coverage of approximately 1 laser shot per square meter.

    The project would use the EAARL system to map shallow (less than 1.5 secchi depth) and non-turbid areas in Estero Bay and nearshore areas. The SANDS system would be used in deeper areas and those which are turbid which include the Caloosahatchee River.

    Work planned for FY 2003-2004 includes:

    1. High resolution bathymetric surveying. 2. Post processing of the benchmark and hydrographic data.

    3. Storage and maintenance all data and access to this data for reproduction as needed by the SFWMD.

    4. A final data package to include the following:

    Hard copy plot of locations of surveyed areas.

    Digital ASCII XYZ data in UTM Zone17, GRS80/NAD83 horizontal coordinates, and NAVD88 vertical coordinates in tabular format. The SFWMD has also asked for the data to be projected into State Plane Coordinates, Florida East Zone (ft) NAD 83, and vertical datum National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (ft).

    Copies of raw and processed digital data files on CD-ROM

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Mark Hansen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Oceanographer
    600 Fourth Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    USA

    727 803-8747 x 3036 (voice)
    727 803-2030 (FAX)
    mhansen@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?

    Precise differential GPS receivers are used to measure boat position and dynamic elevation, a survey quality 200 kHz depth sounder acquires water depth measurements, and a motion sensor measures heave, pitch, and roll of the boat. A measurement is collected about every 3m along a survey line. The horizontal positional accuracy of the system is +/- 4cm.

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

    Precise differential GPS receivers are used to measure boat position and dynamic elevation. The vertical accuracy of the system is +/- 8cm.

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    not available

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    not applicable


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: No data are available form this project yet.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Mark Hansen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Oceanographer
    600 Fourth Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    USA

    727 803-8747 x 3036 (voice)
    727 803-2030 (FAX)
    mhansen@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    bathymetric and sediment characterization data SW and W coastal systems

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    No warrantees are implied or explicit for the data

  4. How can I download or order the data?


Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 27-Oct-2004
Metadata author:
Jo Anne Stapleton
U.S. Geological Survey
521 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
USA

703 648-4592 (voice)
703 648-4614 (FAX)
jastapleton@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)


This page is <http://sofia.usgs.gov/metadata/sflwww/highres_bathy_sfl_est-coast_sys.faq.html>

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
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