Florida Middle Grounds Bathymetry

Bathymetry data for the Florida Middle Grounds Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC), provided as a raster grid with a spatial resolution of 0.0001 decimal degrees in the WGS 84 geographic coordinate system (EPSG:4326). The dataset was derived from multibeam echosounder surveys conducted between August 2000 and August 2006 using a Kongsberg Simrad EM3000 operating at 300 kHz. Surveys were conducted by the University of South Florida under the direction of Principal Investigator Dr. David F. Naar aboard the R/V Suncoaster. Multibeam bathymetry data were processed using CARIS HIPS/SIPS software and compiled into a continuous bathymetric surface representing the Florida Middle Grounds HAPC. A related bathymetric dataset is available through NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The version archived here is provided as a regular geographic-coordinate raster grid and contains fewer missing cells than the corresponding NOAA-distributed raster product, resulting in more continuous spatial coverage across portions of the study area.