Depth soundings from a single beam echo sounder collected around the nearshore areas of the U.S. Pacific Islands since March 2012

This dataset contains singlebeam bathymetry data collected from NOAA small boats by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program since March 2, 2012 in the U.S. Pacific Islands Region, including the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. Data was acquired with a transom-mounted AirMar P66 (prior to 2016) or an AirMar TM258 1 KW (2016 to present) single beam echosounder. The 2012-2015 data was processed using a custom NMEA python script, and the current data (since 2016) is processed using GPS Utility. Error analysis on the data from 2012-2017 was performed by comparing the singlebeam data to existing multibeam data where the two datasets overlapped.

Singlebeam data is collected primarily during NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) missions where depth information is limited due to the hazards of conducting multibeam surveys in shallow water. Where multibeam data cannot be collected, singlebeam data is obtained to provide validation data for satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) mapping.

Findings from the singlebeam data error analysis are available on the Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center website at http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/cms/documentation/#work_practices.

Report: ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/website/webdocs/documentation/Single%20Beam%20Error%20Analysis%202017.pdf

Analysis results: ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/website/webdocs/documentation/SB_vertical_error_analysis.xlsx

New data will be added following the Pacific RAMP mission to the Pacific Remote Island Areas and American Samoa in 2018.

The singlebeam depth soundings include the date and time the data were collected (UTC), the location (LAT and LON in decimal degrees WGS 84, along with region and island codes), and the depths (m). The 2012-2015 data also include the fix type, number of satellites used, HDOP, GPS model and estimated horizontal error (m). The 2016 data include the speed (m/s).

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

Main Hawaiian Islands

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

American Samoa

Mariana Archipelago

Pacific Remote Island Areas

Not applicable

Not applicable

Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

CREP welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. CREP has a very diverse set of field activities that generates large volumes of data using an array of data collection protocols.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with CREP principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by CREP, proper acknowledgement of both CREP and the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, CREP requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the CREP Data Management Team of any errors and discrepancies that are discovered during the course of using these data. They are further urged to bring to the attention of the Team all problems and difficulties encountered in using these data. This information is necessary in order to improve the collections and to facilitate more efficient and economical data processing and retrieval. The users are asked to supply copies of any missing data that may be located, and to provide information as to significant subsets and special aggregations of data that are developed in using the material provided.

Example citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The analysis and interpretations presented here are solely that of the current authors”

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Trackline Geophysical Data website.

To access the data, go to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Trackline Geophysical Data website at https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/geophysics/. Under “Marine Surveys” in the table of contents on left side, uncheck “All Survey Types” and check “Single-Beam Bathymetry”. Click “Search Marine Surveys” button. Uncheck the “All” box for “Survey Ship”. Select “Hi’ialakai” in the list of Survey Ship options. Optionally you can also filter by date (year) by unchecking the “All Dates” box and entering your preferred “Min Year” and “Max Year” year. Data is currently available from 2012-2017 in the Pacific Islands Region. Relevant NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai survey IDs include HA1201, HA1305, HA1401, HA1501, HA1606, and HA1701.

None

Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using the data.

Suggested Citation:

Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2018). Singlebeam bathymetry collected around the nearshore areas of the U.S. Pacific Islands since March 2012. NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/47152.

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None

2012-2015:

Transducer: transom-mounted 1kw thru hull AirMar P66 single beam echosounder

GPS: GPSMap 178C, GPSMap 740s, and Garmin GPS 3006c

Data processed using a custom NMEA parsing script written by Jeff Anderson.

2016-2017:

Transducer: AirMar TM258 1 KW transom mount single beam echosounder

GPS: Furono GP1870F

Conversion software: GPS Utility v5.30

Source data, manuals, SOPs, etc. are saved on the PIFSC network:

\\PICMAKAI\GIS\SingleBeam\

Error analysis on the 2012-2017 data was performed by comparing the singlebeam data to existing multibeam data where the two datasets overlapped. Findings from the singlebeam data error analysis are available on the Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center website at http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/cms/documentation/#work_practices.

Report: ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/website/webdocs/documentation/Single%20Beam%20Error%20Analysis%202017.pdf

Analysis results: ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/website/webdocs/documentation/SB_vertical_error_analysis.xlsx

GPS Accuracy:

2012-2015: Garmin GPSMAP 3006c, 3 m horizontal resolution w/WAAS.

2016-2017: Furono GP1870F GPS, 7.5 m horizontal resolution w/WAAS.

Transducer Max Depth:

2012-2015: transom-mounted AirMar P66, max depth 500m

2016-2017: AirMar TM258 1 KW, max depth 366m

Only those singlebeam data that were used (or that were anticipated would be needed in the future) to validate bathymetry derived from satellite images have been documented and archived. As such, there may be additional singlebeam datasets available that are not included in this archive.

2012-2015: observations in which DEPTH IS NULL were filtered from the archived dataset.

2016-2017: observations in which DEPTH IS NULL, TRACK = 1, and/or SPEED IS NULL were filtered from the archived dataset.

Data collected since 2016 are processed using GPS Utility and exported to a text file. The exported files must be parsed and manually processed as follows: remove track headers, remove redundant soundings (if the unit wasn't cleared between downloads), reformat latitude and longitude fields to remove N/S or E/W, set depths to negative. Manually processed files are converted to CSV and then ingested into the Oracle database.

A standard operating procedure has been developed to standardize and improve data acquisition and data download in the field, and data conversation in the office using GPS Utility. The converted data are evaluated in a GIS and manually processed before the data are migrated to the master database in Oracle.

NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets.

Data was acquired with a transom-mounted AirMar P66 (prior to 2016) or an AirMar TM258 1 KW (2016 to present) single beam echosounder. The 2012-2015 data was processed using a custom NMEA parsing script written by Jeff Anderson.

The current data (since 2016) is converted from Furono GPS track points (PNT/TRK files) to comma-separated TXT using GPS Utility. The exported TXT files are parsed to separate the track header content from the data. Redundant data, if applicable, are removed (this occurs if the instrument is not cleared between data downloads). Values in the coordinates fields are edited to convert the alpha characters (N, S, E, W) to numeric representations (negative is applied for S and W). Data are then evaluated in GIS to set the descriptive locations (REGION and ISLAND). Once manual processing is complete, the data are migrated to the Oracle database. Data that are distributed are filtered to remove NULL depth and speed values and records in which TRACK = 1, and depth values are converted to negative.