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Open-File Report 2014–1012

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### Combined Multibeam Bathymetry Data from Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound – A Regional Perspective 

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## Abstract

| Title PageList of FiguresConversion Factors**Abstract**IntroductionMethodsBathymetryGIS Data CatalogSummaryAcknowledgmentsReferencesContactsIndex | Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor in Rhode Island and Block  Island Sounds are of great interest to the New York, Rhode Island, and  Massachusetts research and management communities because of this area's  ecological, recreational, and commercial importance. Geologically interpreted  digital terrain models from individual surveys provide important benthic  environmental information, yet many applications of this information require a  geographically broader perspective. For example, individual surveys are of  limited use for the planning and construction of cross-sound infrastructure,  such as cables and pipelines, or for the testing of regional circulation  models. To address this need, we integrated 14 contiguous multibeam bathymetric  datasets that were produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration during charting operations into one digital terrain model that  covers much of Block Island Sound and extends eastward across Rhode Island  Sound. The new dataset, which covers over 1244 square kilometers, is adjusted  to mean lower low water, gridded to 4-meter resolution, and provided in Universal  Transverse Mercator Zone 19, North American Datum of 1983 and geographic World Geodetic Survey  of 1984 projections. This resolution is adequate for sea-floor feature and  process interpretation but is small enough to be queried and manipulated with  standard Geographic Information System programs and to allow for future growth.  Natural features visible in the data include boulder lag deposits of winnowed  Pleistocene strata, sand-wave fields, and scour depressions that reflect the  strength of oscillating tidal currents and scour by storm-induced waves.  Bedform asymmetry allows interpretations of net sediment transport. Anthropogenic  features visible in the data include shipwrecks and dredged channels. Together  the merged data reveal a larger, more continuous perspective of bathymetric  topography than previously available, providing a fundamental framework for  research and resource management activities offshore of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York.  |
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U.S. Department of the Interior |            U.S. Geological Survey                                                URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2014/1012/html/abstract.html            Page Contact Information: GS Pubs Web Contact                        Page Last Modified: Friday, February 21, 2014, 11:55:49 AM