Sea floor maps showing topography, sun-illuminated topographic imagery, and backscatter intensity of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Region off Boston, Massachusetts

This data set contains the sea floor topographic contours,
sun-illuminated topographic imagery, and backscatter
intensity generated from a multibeam sonar survey of the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region off Boston,
Massachusetts, an area of approximately 1100 square nautical
miles. The Stellwagen Bank NMS Mapping Project is designed to
provide detailed maps of the Stellwagen Bank region's
environments and habitats and the first complete multibeam
topographic and sea floor characterization maps of a
significant region of the shallow EEZ.
Data were collected on four cruises over a
two year period from the fall of 1994 to the fall of 1996.
The surveys were conducted aboard the Candian Hydrographic
Service vessel Frederick G. Creed, a SWATH (Small Waterplane
Twin Hull) ship that surveys at speeds of 16 knots. The
multibeam data were collected utilizing a Simrad Subsea EM
1000 Multibeam Echo Sounder (95 kHz) that is permanently
installed in the hull of the Creed.