Massachusetts Bay - Internal wave packets digitized from SAR imagery

This feature class contains internal wave packets digitized from SAR imagery at 1:350,000 scale in Massachusetts Bay. Internal waves are nonsinusoidal waves that occur at the interface between two layers of ocean water of differing densities (Brown et al., 1989 p.9). They occur when seasonally stratified water is forced by diurnal tides over abrupt topographic features, such as banks or ledges. These processes often produce several internal waves at once and as a result, internal waves usually propagate horizontally in groups or packets. As these packets approach shallow water (typically 25 to 40 m in depth), they gradually disappear due to increasing bottom attenuation, disrupting the pycnocline and vertically mixing water of differing densities (Jackson and Apel, 2004 p.198).

Created to support the biogeographic assessment of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

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Jackson, C.R. and J.R. Apel. 2004. Synthetic Aperture Radar Marine User's Manual. NOAA NESDIS: Washington, D.C. pp. 464. Available from: http://www.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/sod/mecb/sar/sarmanual.html

These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA 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 NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA can not assume liability for and damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.

Please contact the Stellwagen Banks NMS Research Coordinator for additional information on data access (david.wiley@noaa.gov);

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None. Acknowledgement of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Biogeography Program would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.1.0.722

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