Gridded multibeam bathymetry of Zealandia Bank, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Gridded multibeam bathymetry of Zealandia Bank, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
Abstract:
Gridded bathymetry shelf, bank and slope environments of Zealandia Bank, CNMI. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths between ~12 and 285 meters, The Arc ASCII grid includes multibeam bathymetry from the Simrad EM300 and Reson 8101 multibeam sonars collected as of June 2007 by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Division. The sonar frequencies are 30 and 240 kHz respectively.
Supplemental_Information:
Multibeam data were collected aboard the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai, a 218' United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research ship. The NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai's survey sensors include a 30 kHz Simrad EM300 sonar and a 300 kHz Simrad EM3002d sonar, which provide bathymetry and imagery data, a TSS/Applanix POS/MV Model 320, which measures position, velocity, attitude and heading, and a Seabird SBE 9/11 plus CTD used to measure sound velocity profiles. Multibeam data were also collected aboard the R/V AHI (Acoustic Habitat Investigator), a 25' survey launch owned and operated by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, HI. The R/V AHI's survey sensors include a 240 kHz RESON 8101-ER sonar providing bathymetry and imagery data, a TSS/Applanix POS/MV Model 320 which measures position, velocity, attitude and heading, and a Seabird SBE 19 CTD used to measure sound velocity profiles. Specific equipment configurations are documented in metadata from cruises AHI0703 and HI0703. These metadata can be accessed at: https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/cms/cruise-catalog/
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 20121225, Gridded multibeam bathymetry of Zealandia Bank, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)..

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: 145.839
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: 145.859
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 16.904
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 16.868
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/CNMI_images/ZEA_5m_bathy_445.jpg (JPEG)
    Gridded Bathymetry Derivative
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 25-May-2007
    Ending_Date: 08-Jun-2007Currentness_Reference: ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: digital data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Raster data set. It contains the following raster data types:
      • Dimensions 799 x 421 x 1, type Grid Cell
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 55
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: 147
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0
      False_Easting: 500000
      False_Northing: 0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 5
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 5
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters
      The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Depth_System_Definition:
      Depth_Datum_Name: mean lower low water
      Depth_Resolution: 0.01
      Depth_Distance_Units: meters
      Depth_Encoding_Method: Attribute values
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    Depth values are real values based on the average of the soundings that fell within the extracted grid cells. The number of soundings per grid cell range from >1000 soundings in shallow depths to as few as 20 soundings in deeper areas. A total error budget for these data have not been developed. Therefore, the accuracy of depth measurements should be considered to be within 1 meter.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: none

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?
    NOAA PIFS, CRED, PIBHMC, JIMAR, and SOEST
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
    NOAA IRC
    Honolulu, HI
    USA

    808 725-5360 (voice)
    nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
    Contact_Instructions: e-mail preferred

Why was the data set created?

The ASCII grid was created using data gathered from multibeam soundings for use as a planning and reference document. The data are also being used for benthic habitat mapping, for locating Essential Fish Habitat, and for studying geologic features of the area. Refer to supplemental information for description of instrument and survey.

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: 02-Oct-2007 (process 1 of 1)
    Multibeam swath files are acquired on and around each island and bank in the Generic Sensor Format (GSF) and are edited on a swath by swath basis using SAIC's SABER editing software. The edited swath files are then combined into a Pure File Magic (PFM) format with a defined grid cell size (5m) in SABER and area based editing is performed. The edited PFM is then exported as X,Y,Z data with a value at each grid node. The X,Y,Z data are then and gridded using nearneighbor, a Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) algorithm that converts an ASCII or binary table to a netCDF grid file format. NetCDF grids are then converted to an ArcGIS ASCII file format using LINUX/UNIX commands in combination with GMT. GMT is an open source collection of tools for manipulating geographic data sets. Additional information about GMT can be found at: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/gmt and additional information about the multibeam data processing is recorded in the cruise metadata.
  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?
    Data are collected for resource management and research purposes and are tested for internal consistency; however, no effort is made to compare these data to external references or to other published data.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    Horizontal positioning system: GPS C/A Horizontal position accuracy: 25 meters
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Range resolution of sonar: varies with depth Raw sounding resolution: varies with depth Vertical accuracy of gridded product ~ 1% of water depth
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Complete
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    These data are believed to be logically consistent though no tests were performed

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:
These data are not to be used for navigation purposes. Please acknowledge the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) and the Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center, and the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) and School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawaii as the sources of this information.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
    NOAA IRC
    Honolulu, HI
    USA

    808 725-5360 (voice)
    nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
    Contact_Instructions: e-mail preferred
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Downloadable Data
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    These data are not to be used for navigational purposes. NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA cannot assume liability for any 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.
  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 15-Dec-2024
Metadata author:
Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NOAA IRC
Honolulu, HI
USA

808 725-5360 (voice)
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Generated by mp version 2.9.44 on Mon May 12 20:56:24 2025