Bottom Photographs in JPEG format acquired using a SEABed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) within Barnegat Bay New Jersey by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2012, and 2013

Water quality in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary along the New Jersey coast is the focus of a multidisciplinary research project begun in 2011 by the U.S. Geological Survey in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. This narrow estuary is the drainage for the Barnegat Watershed and flushed by just three inlets connecting it to the Atlantic Ocean, is experiencing degraded water quality, algal blooms, loss of seagrass, and increases in oxygen -depletion events, seaweed, stinging nettles, and brown tide. The scale of the estuary and the scope of the problems within it necessitate a multidisciplinary approach that includes characterizing its physical characteristics (for example, depth, magnitude and direction of tidal currents, distribution of seafloor and subseafloor sediment) and modeling how the physical characteristics interact to affect the estuary's water quality. Scientists from USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program offices in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and St. Petersburg, Florida, began mapping the seafloor of the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary in November 2011 and completed in September 2013. With funding from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and logistical support from the USGS New Jersey Water Science Center, they collected data with a suite of geophysical tools, including swath bathymetric sonar for measuring seafloor depth, a sidescan sonar for collecting acoustic-backscatter data (which provides information about seafloor texture and sediment type), subbottom profiler for imaging sediment layers beneath the floor of the estuary, and sediment samples with bottom photographs for ground validation of the acoustic data. More information about the four surveys that were part of this project can be found at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Field Activity web pages: 2011-041-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2011-041-FA 2012-003-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2012-003-FA 2013-014-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2013-014-FA 2013-030-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2013-030-FA

美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）于2011年启动多学科研究项目，聚焦新泽西州沿岸巴内加特湾-小蛋港河口（Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary）的水质状况，合作方为新泽西州环境保护部（New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection）。
该狭长河口为巴内加特流域的排水区域，仅通过三处与大西洋相连的入海口实现水体交换，目前正面临水质退化、藻华、海草床消失，以及缺氧事件、海藻、刺荨麻和褐潮频发等多重环境问题。
鉴于该河口的规模与内部问题的复杂性，亟需采用多学科研究手段，包括表征其物理特征（如水深、潮流的强度与方向、海底及海底下沉积物分布），并模拟各类物理特征如何相互作用，进而影响河口水质。
来自美国地质调查局马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔与佛罗里达州圣彼得斯堡海岸与海洋地质项目办公室的科研人员，于2011年11月启动巴内加特湾-小蛋港河口的海底测绘工作，并于2013年9月完成全部任务。本项目由新泽西州环境保护部提供资助，美国地质调查局新泽西州水科学中心提供后勤支持，科研团队使用一系列地球物理工具采集数据：包括用于测量海底水深的条带测深声呐（swath bathymetric sonar）、用于采集声学背散射数据（acoustic-backscatter data，可反映海底纹理与沉积物类型）的侧扫声呐（sidescan sonar）、用于成像河口海底下方沉积层的浅地层剖面仪（subbottom profiler），以及用于对声学数据进行地面验证的沉积物样品与海底照片。
关于本项目包含的四项勘测活动的更多信息，可查阅美国地质调查局伍兹霍尔海岸与海洋科学中心（Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center）野外活动网页：
2011-041-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2011-041-FA
2012-003-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2012-003-FA
2013-014-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2013-014-FA
2013-030-FA: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2013-030-FA