One meter mosaic of acoustic backscatter data acquired using an EdgeTech 4200 sidescan sonar within Little Egg Harbor (Barnegat Bay) New Jersey by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2013 (GeoTIFF image, UTM 18N, WGS 84)

In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection began a multidisciplinary research project to better understand the water quality in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. This back-barrier estuary is flushed by only three inlets and is experiencing degraded water quality, algal blooms, loss of seagrass, and increases in oxygen stress, macro algae, stinging nettles, and brown tide. The scale of the estuary and the scope of the problems within it necessitate a multidisciplinary approach that includes establishing the regional geology, its physical characteristics, and modeling how the estuary's morphology interacts to affect its 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 individual surveys conducted as part of the Barnegat Bay Project can be found on the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Field activity webpages:
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

2011年，美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）与新泽西州环境保护部合作启动了一项多学科研究项目，旨在更全面地了解新泽西州巴内加特湾的水质状况。该后障壁河口（back-barrier estuary）仅通过三处入海口完成水体交换，当前正面临水质退化、藻华暴发、海草资源丧失，同时缺氧胁迫加剧、大型藻类滋生、刺荨麻泛滥以及褐潮（brown tide）频发。
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，包括厘清区域地质背景、河口物理特征，并构建河口地貌形态如何相互作用进而影响水质的模型。
来自美国地质调查局海岸与海洋地质项目位于马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔以及佛罗里达州圣彼得堡办事处的科研人员，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月完成全部作业。依托新泽西州环境保护部提供的资助，以及美国地质调查局新泽西州水科学中心提供的后勤保障，科研团队采用多套地球物理工具开展数据采集工作，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原位验证的沉积物样品与海底照片。
有关巴内加特湾项目项下各项调查的更多详情，可访问伍兹霍尔海岸与海洋科学中心的野外作业网页：
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