Water depth and acoustic backscatter data collected from NOAA Ship Nancy Foster in Caribbean Sea, Buck Island Reef and Virgin Islands National Coral Reef Monuments, U.S. Virgin Islands from 2006-03-21 to 2006-04-02 (NCEI Accession 0131851)

The Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA) conducted the third year of an ongoing scientific research mission on board NOAA Ship NANCY FOSTER. The purpose of this cruise is to support the benthic characterization of coral reef habitat in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The mission explored, surveyed, and mapped moderate depth bathymetry (30 – 1000 meters) with NOAA Ship NANCY FOSTER’s Simrad EM1002 multibeam system for natural resource management and seafloor characterization. Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter was collected along with Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) underwater video. Priority areas for 2006 included the deep water portion of the Buck Island Reef National Monument north of St. Croix and the La Parguera region along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Additional multibeam data was collected to merge with pre-existing shallow water bathymetry from previous CCMA cruises in the Buck Island vicinity.

海岸监测与评估中心（Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment，CCMA）在美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration，NOAA）‘南希·福斯特’号科考船上，完成了一项持续科学研究任务的第三个年度科考工作。本次航次的核心目标是支撑美属维尔京群岛与波多黎各海域珊瑚礁生境的底栖特征表征。任务期间，科考团队借助‘南希·福斯特’号搭载的Simrad EM1002多波束测深系统，对30至1000米中等深度的水深地形开展探测、勘测与成图工作，以服务于自然资源管理与海底特征表征工作。本次航次同步采集了多波束水深地形与后向散射数据，以及遥控水下机器人（Remotely Operated Vehicle，ROV）的水下视频资料。2006年的优先勘测区域包括圣克罗伊岛以北的巴克岛礁国家纪念区深水区，以及波多黎各西南沿海的拉帕尔格拉地区。此外，科考团队还采集了额外的多波束数据，用于与此前CCMA航次在巴克岛周边获取的现有浅水区水深地形数据进行融合。