To determine the morphology and seismic stratigraphy of the nearshore bars and shoreface of eastern Cape Cod for the purpose of understanding seal and Great White Shark behavior in this environment.
Location
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, Atlantic Ocean
Summary
The primary objective for this project successfully completed 100 percent bathymetric and acoustic backscatter coverage that includes the outer bar and as much of the trough and shoreface as possible for a 10 km stretch from Coast Guard Beach to north of Marconi Beach. Acquire subbottom data that images the thickness of modern sand shoals and characteristics of the underlying glacial drift. Due to survey time constraints, we did not completely cover the full offshore range of the 2018 lidar data. The secondary objective partially completed 100 percent bathymetric and acoustic backscatter for a 3 km stretch along Nauset Beach, Nauset Heights and Callanan's Pass. We were able to collect subbottom profiles that image modern sand shoals and underlying glacial deposits. With more survey time at high tide, we could have could have acquired more data close to shore in this area. We tested the Reson T20P dual head mutibeam sonar and the Edgetech 424 chirp subottom systems on June 9, 2021 along Nauset Beach. The data acquired were very good quality and are included with the data collected from June 15 to June 24, 2021.
Info derived
Bathymetry, backscatter, sand shoal thickness
Comments
Entries for this field activity are based on entries from Field Activity 2020-002-FA.
Rescheduling of the 2020 field activity.
RAW sound velocity profile data from a Minos X collected from outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts during USGS Field Activity 2021-004-FA (PNG images, SVP text, and point shapefile, GCS WGS 84)
Multibeam backscatter data collected during USGS Field Activity 2021-004-FA, using a dual-head Teledyne SeaBat T20-P multibeam echo sounder (8-bit GeoTIFF, UTM Zone 19N, WGS84, 1-m resolution)
Multibeam bathymetric data collected during USGS field activity 2021-004-FA, using a dual-head Teledyne SeaBat T20-P multibeam echo sounder (32-bit GeoTIFF, UTM Zone 19N, NAD 83, NAVD88 Vertical Datum, 2-m resolution)
