The resulting image displays light and dark intensities within each color band that result from a feature's position with respect to the light source. The shaded relief image accentuates small features that could not be effectively shown by contours alone at this scale. Some features are artifacts of data collection and environmental conditions. They include small highs and lows and unnatural looking features or patterns oriented parallel or perpendicular to survey tracklines. The orientation of the tracklines are identified by the faint parallel stripes in the image.
White areas are areas of no data.
In some areas, the backscatter intensity shows stripes parallel to the survey tracklines. This produces high backscatter intensity in the inner part of the swath and a rapid change to reduced intensity at the outer part. Some backscatter intensity is the result of bad weather, for example the single high intensity strip that runs northwest-southeast across the southern part of Stellwagen Bank. The image illustrates the complex and wide variety of sedimentary environments in this region of the coastal ocean. The transitions between sediment types is often very sharp.