Water Depth and acoustic backscatter data collected from NOAA Ship Nancy Foster in the US Caribbean/ Puerto Rico and St. Thomas from 2016-04-07 to 2016-04-26 (NCEI Accession 0157612)

NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in collaboration with NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, federal, academic, and private sector partners conducted the 2016 Seafloor Mapping of the US Caribbean project. Several areas of interest were explored and surveyed during the field mission in the eastern Puerto Rico region. H12935 was conducted on along the southeastern Puerto Rican shelf edge using a deep water Em 710 multibeam echo sounder (mbes) at 100khz. H12936 was conducted north of the Isla de Culebra over the broad moderately shallow insular shelf using a 400 khz Reson 7125 mbes. A third opportunistic survey was conducted along the edge of the USVI insular shelf south of St. Thomas to conjoin previous NOAA Ship Nancy Foster mission surveys. During the field mission, a Remotely Operated Vehicle owned by the University of North Carolina collected HD photo and video ground validation video. Data was processed by a NOAA contractor using CARIS HIPS software. Data has all correctors applied (attitude, sound velocity) and has been reduced to mean lower low water (MLLW) using final approved tides from NOAA COOPS. Data is spatially referenced in UTM Zone 20 North, Datum WGS84. The project was conducted to meet IHO order 1 and 2 accuracy standards, dependent on the project area and depth. All users should individually evaluate the suitability of this data according to their own needs and standards.

美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）下属的NOS/NCCOS/CCMA生物地理学团队，联合NOAA南希·福斯特号（NOAA Ship Nancy Foster）科考船、联邦机构、学术机构及私营部门合作伙伴，实施了2016年美国加勒比海海底测绘项目。本次野外作业在波多黎各东部区域探索并勘测了多处目标感兴趣区域。其中H12935航次沿波多黎各东南部陆架边缘开展，采用100kHz深水Em 710多波束测深仪（multibeam echo sounder, mbes）完成数据采集；H12936航次在库莱布拉岛（Isla de Culebra）以北的宽阔中等水深岛架区域实施，搭载400kHz的Reson 7125多波束测深仪；第三次为机会性勘测航次，沿圣托马斯以南的美属维尔京群岛（United States Virgin Islands, USVI）岛架边缘开展，以衔接此前NOAA南希·福斯特号科考船的测绘任务。野外作业期间，北卡罗来纳大学所属的遥控作业载具（Remotely Operated Vehicle）采集了高清照片与地面验证视频。数据由NOAA签约承包商使用CARIS HIPS软件完成处理。所有数据集已完成全部校正工作（含姿态校正、声速校正），并采用NOAA COOPS官方核准的最终潮汐数据，将水深归算至平均低低潮面（mean lower low water, MLLW）。数据采用通用横轴墨卡托20北坐标系（Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 20 North, UTM Zone 20 North）、世界大地测量系统1984（World Geodetic System 1984, WGS84）进行空间配准。本项目依据作业区域与水深的差异，需符合国际海道测量组织（International Hydrographic Organization, IHO）一级与二级精度标准。所有使用者应根据自身需求与评估标准，自行判断本数据集的适用性。