usSEABED: Atlantic Coast Offshore Surficial Sediment Data Release

The usSEABED database system is the collaborative product of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Colorado, and other partners and provides integrated marine geologic data from small and large marine research efforts by many entities federal and state agencies, local authorities, universities, private and public consortiums. usSEABED includes surficial and subbottom sediment information on grain size, composition, and applied-properties and is held in comma-delimited files, useable in most GIS and RDB programs. By coordinating data collections between these many institutions and agencies, the USGS is able to provide comprehensive coverage within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Additional information on usSEABED and the research projects it supports are at: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/.

Sources of data include, but are not limited to:
U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Minerals Management Service
National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
University of Maine
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island

The dbSEABED program, in part, parses word-based descriptive data such as "brown fine sand with abundant shells; seagrass and some pebbles; whiff of h2s" into numeric, georeferenced data. This process extends the data coverage of the seabed by using words, an important data type characterizing the seabed.