Summary

Description

This georeferenced RGB image represents 9 meter resolution bathymetry of a selected portion of seafloor around Tourmaline Bank, Puerto Rico. This image is also vertically exaggerated by a factor of 1, and sun illuminated where the azimuth = 125 degrees and angle = 35 degrees. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch, in collaboration with NOAA vessel Nancy Foster and territory, federal, and private sector partners, acquired multibeam bathymetry data in Puerto Rico from 2/25/08 to 3/8/08. Data was acquired with a hull-mounted Kongsberg Simrad EM 1002 multibeam echosounder (95 kHz) in 2008. It 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 and zoning from NOAA COOPS. Data is in UTM zone 19 north, datum NAD83. The processed CARIS data was used to generate a CARIS BASE surface based on swath angle. An ASCII XYZ file was exported from the BASE surface and imported to ESRI ArcMap 9.2 using the Convert XYZ to Raster tool developed by CCMA for this purpose. The project was conducted to meet IHO Order 1 and 2 accuracy standards, dependant on the project area and depth. All users should individually evaluate the suitability of this data according to their own needs and standards.