Multibeam Bathymetry and Backscatter Data: Northeastern Channel Islands Region, Southern California

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Minerals Management
Service (MMS) conducted multibeam mapping in the eastern Santa Barbara Channel
and northeastern Channel Islands region from August 8 to15, 2004 aboard the R/V
Maurice Ewing. The survey was directed and funded by the Minerals Management
Service, which is interested in maps of hard bottom habitats, particularly
natural outcrops, that support reef communities in areas affected by oil and
gas activity. The maps are also useful to biologists studying fish that use the
platforms and the sea floor beneath them as habitat.

The survey collected bathymetry and corrected, co-registered acoustic
backscatter using a Kongsberg Simrad EM1002 multibeam echosounder that was
mounted on the hull of the R/V Maurice Ewing. Three main regions were mapped
during the survey including: (1) the Eastern Santa Barbara Channel adjacent to
an area previously mapped with multibeam-sonar by the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute (see the MBARI Santa Barbara Basin Multibeam Survey web
page), (2) the Footprint area south of Anacapa Island, which has been studied
extensively by rockfish biologists and is considered a good site for a marine
protected area, and (3) part of the submarine canyons along the continental
slope south of Port Hueneme. These data will be used to support a number of new
and ongoing projects including, habitat mapping, shelf and slope processes, and
offshore hazards and resources.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]