Raw multibeam swath bathymetry data from the Central Indian Ridge acquired during ORV Sagar Kanya cruise SK165 (2001)

These multibeam swath files were collected in May-July 2001 aboard ORV Sagar Kanya during cruise SK165. The data set was analyzed and published as part of an US-Indian international collaboration project (investigators Chuck DeMets and R.K. Drolia). The 59-beam Hydrosweep swath sonar system operated at a frequency of 15.5 kHz and produced a cross-track swath that is 70 m to 200 m wide. The cross-track horizontal resolution was about 140 m. Relative depths were known to 10–25 m. A total of 53 ridge-normal profiles ranging in length from 125-200 km were collected across seven ridge segments at the Sealark, Vema and Vityaz fracture zones. These raw data files are in MBSystem-compatible format (format 24). The data set was generated as part of the project called US-India Cooperative Research: A Multibeam Survey of the Equatorial Carlsberg and Central Indian Ridges and Their Fracture Zones, 3N-10S. Funding sources included NSF award OISE 02-44894.