Polygons showing USACE Civil Works District boundaries. This dataset was digitized from the NRCS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). Where districts follow administrative boundaries, such as County and State lines, National Atlas and Census datasets were used. USACE District GIS POCs also submitted data to incorporate into this dataset. This dataset has been simplified +/- 30 feet to reduce file size and speed up drawing time. 05/05/20 - Update to show new LRC boundary. Minor change between LRL and LRH. 07/31/24 - Update to show new SAA Caribbean District.

Polygon boundaries for the US Army Corps of Engineers districts in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.Data Download: https://ky.box.com/v/kymartian-us-coe-districts

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Geospatial Open Data provides shared and trusted USACE geospatial data, services and applications for use by our partner agencies and the public.

The dataset presented here represents a circa 1932 land/water delineation of coastal Louisiana used in part of a larger study to quantify landscape changes from 1932 to 2016. The original dataset was created by Dunbar, and Britsch, and Kemp (2006). The original dataset is citable as: Dunbar, J. B. and Britsch, L. D., 2006. Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana 1932-2001. Map 1. Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS, Technical Report, ERDC/GSL TR-05-13, Land Loss Map 1 through 7. The USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center altered the original data by improving the geo-rectification in specific areas known to contain geo-rectification error, most notably in coastal wetland areas in the vicinity of Four League Bay in western Terrebonne Basin. The dataset contains two categories, land and water. For the purposes of this effort, land includes areas characterized by emergent vegetation, upland, wetland forest, or scrub-shrub were classified as land, while open water, aquatic beds, and mudflats were classified as water. For additional information regarding this dataset (other than geo-rectification revisions), please contact the dataset originator, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

JALBTCX National Coastal Mapping Program Derived Products: Great Lakes & Ohio River DivisionThe layers depicted in this web map were developed to serve regional geospatial data needs of USACE Districts and agency partners to discover and download products derived from USACE National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) high resolution, topo-bathymetric lidar and imagery. The USACE NCMP acquires high-resolution, high-accuracy topographic/bathymetric lidar elevation and imagery on a recurring basis along the sandy shorelines of the US. The program's survey footprint includes an approximately 1-mile wide swath of topography, bathymetry and imagery 500-m onshore and 1000-m offshore. The standard suite of NCMP data products include topographic/bathymetric lidar point clouds, digital surface and elevation models, shoreline vectors and both true-color and hyperspectral imagery mosaics. Value-added derivative information products may include laser reflectance images, landcover classification images, volume change metrics, and the products to help address District project requirements. USACE Headquarters initiated the NCMP in 2004. The program's update cycle follows counter-clockwise along the US West Coast, Gulf Coast, East Coast and Great Lakes approximately every 5 years. Surveys in support of USACE project-specific missions and external partners are included constituent to the current NCMP schedule and reimbursable funding. All work is coordinated with Federal mapping partners through the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IWGOCM) and the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP).NCMP operations are executed by the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX). The JALBTCX mission is to perform operations, research and development in airborne lidar bathymetry and complementary technologies to support the coastal mapping and charting requirements of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Survey operations are conducted worldwide using the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging (CZMIL) system and other industry-based coastal mapping and charting systems. CZMIL is JALBTCX's in-house survey capability that includes and Optech International, CZMIL 03-1 lidar instrument with simultaneous topographic and bathymetric capabilities. CZMIL is integrated with an Itres CASI-1500 hyperspectral imager and an 80 MP Leica RCD30 RGBN camera. CZMIL collects 10-kHz lidar data with spatially- and temporally-concurrent digital true-color and hyperspectral imagery.

The US Army Corps of Engineers has been regulating activities in the nation's waters since 1890. Until the 1960s the primary purpose of the regulatory program was to protect navigation. Since then, as a result of laws and court decisions, the program has been broadened so that it now considers the full public interest for both the protection and utilization of water resources. These boundaries represent USACE regulatory districts. Attribute information includes an address, telephone number and url for each district. Metadata

The purpose of this project is to map the surficial geology of the sea floor of Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) and changes in surficial characteristics over time. This GIS project presents multibeam and other data in a digital format for analysis and display by scientists, policy makers, managers and the general public.

This project presents maps of the sea floor in GIS format of the Historic Area Remedition Site (HARS), located offshore of New York and New Jersey. The data were collected with a multibeam sea floor mapping system on surveys conducted November 23 - December 3, 1996, October 26 - November 11, 1998, and April 6 - 30, 2000. The maps show sea floor topography, shaded relief, and backscatter intensity (a measure of sea floor texture and roughness) at a spatial resolution of 3 m/pixel, and locations of dredged material placed on the sea floor. The sea floor of the HARS, approximately 9 square nautical miles in area, is being remediated by placing at least a one-meter of clean dredged material on top of the existing surface sediments that exhibit varying degrees degradation resulting from previous disposal of dredged and other material. Comparison of the topography and backscatter intensity from the three surveys show changes in topography and surficial sediment properties resulting from placement of dredged material in 1996 and 1997 prior to designation of the HARS, as well as placement of material for remediation of the HARS. This study is carried out cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

These data were created as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management's efforts to create an online mapping viewer called the NOAA Lake Level Viewer. It depicts potential lake level rise and fall and its associated impacts on the nation's coastal areas. The purpose of the mapping viewer is to provide coastal managers and scientists with a preliminary look at lake level change, coastal flooding impacts, and exposed lakeshore. The viewer is a screening-level tool that uses nationally consistent data sets and analyses. Data and maps provided can be used at several scales to help gauge trends and prioritize actions for different scenarios. The NOAA Lake Level Viewer may be accessed at: https://coast.noaa.gov/llv. This metadata record describes the Lake Erie digital elevation model (DEM), which is a part of a series of DEMs produced for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management's Lake Level Viewer described above. This DEM includes the best available lidar and US Army Corps of Engineer dredge survey data known to exist at the time of DEM creation that met project specifications. This DEM includes data for Monroe and Wayne Counties in Michigan; Chautauqua and Erie Counties in New York; Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Wood Counties in Ohio; and Erie County in Pennsylvania. The DEM was produced from the following lidar data sets: 1. 2011 - 2012 USACE NCMP Topobathy Lidar: Lake Erie (MI, NY, OH, PA) 2. 2011 USACE NCMP Topobathy Lidar: MI/NY Great Lakes 3. 2008 FEMA Lidar: Erie County, NY 4. 2007 USACE NCMP Topobathy Lidar: Lake Erie (Erie County, PA) and Lake Michigan (Manitou Islands) (MI, PA) 5. 2007 USACE NCMP Topobathy Lidar: Lake Erie (NY Shoreline) 6. 2006 USACE NCMP Topobathy Lidar: Lake Erie (OH, PA), Lake Huron (MI) and Lake Michigan (Porter County, IN) 7. 2007 Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) Statewide Lidar 8. 2006 Ohio Statewide Imagery Program (OSIP) Lidar: North The DEM was produced from the following sonar data sets: 9. 2015 USACE Detroit District; Detroit River, MI; Livingstone Channel Reach 10. 2015 USACE Buffalo District, Ashtabula Harbor, OH 11. 2015 USACE Buffalo District, Erie Harbor, PA 12. 2015 USACE Buffalo District, Fairport Harbor, OH 13. 2015 USACE Buffalo District, Rocky River, OH 14. 2013 USACE Buffalo District; Buffalo Harbor, NY; Buffalo River and Ship Canal 15. 2014 USACE Detroit District, Point Mouillee, MI 16. 2014 USACE Buffalo District, Conneaut Harbor, OH 17. 2014 USACE Buffalo District, Dunkirk Harbor, NY 18. 2014 USACE Buffalo District, Niagara River, NY 19. 2014 USACE Buffalo District, Sandusky Harbor, OH The DEM is referenced vertically to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) with vertical units of meters and horizontally to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). The resolution of the DEM is approximately 3 meters.

USACE District, Division and Research Lab Locations. This data set does not include field offices.

This part of DS 781 presents data for bathymetry for several seafloor maps of the Offshore of Point Conception Map Area, California. The GeoTiff is included in "Bathymetry_OffshorePointConception.zip," which is accessible from https://doi.org/10.5066/F7QN64XQ. These data accompany the pamphlet and map sheets of Johnson, S.Y., Dartnell, P., Cochrane, G.R., Hartwell, S.R., Golden, N.E., Kvitek, R.G., and Davenport, C.W. (S.Y. Johnson and S.A. Cochran, eds.), 2018, California State Waters Map Series—Offshore of Point Conception, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1024, pamphlet 36 p., 9 sheets, scale 1:24,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181024. Bathymetry map of the Offshore of Point Conception map area in southern California was generated largely from acoustic-bathymetry data collected by Fugro Pelagos Inc. Acoustic mapping was completed in 2008 using a combination of 400-kHz Reson 7125, 240-kHz Reson 8101, and 100-kHz Reson 8111 multibeam echosounders. Bathymetric-lidar data was collected in the nearshore area by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Joint Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise in 2009 and 2010. These mapping missions combine to provide continuous bathymetric data from the shoreline as well as acoustic-backscatter data from about the 10-m isobath to beyond the limit of California's State Waters.

The flood plains were created using the USACE Engineering Research Development Center – AutoRoute for all areas with the exception of using the USACE Engineering Research Development Center – River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) hydraulic modeling software, version 6.2 in the Mora area. AutoRoute utilizes a steady-state, normal flow solver, making AutoRoute incapable of assessing some of the more typical, yet complex, hydraulic phenomena, such as backwater effects. HEC-RAS utilizes a two-dimensional (2D) unsteady flow analysis algorithm. This analysis incorporated breaklines and 2D mesh modifications to better represent terrain features in the simulation. Wood and scrub vegetation features were not represented in the bare earth LIDAR but were considered via Manning’s roughness values. Bridges and buildings were not included in the bare earth LiDAR terrain surface and were not implemented via modifications in HEC-RAS RASMapper. The floodplains were developed to rapidly assess the increased flood risk that is generally associated with post-wildfire hydrology or large changes to a watershed from a wildfire. The floodplains are intended to be used as a tool by flood disaster responders and other officials so they can prepare resources for a potential post-wildfire flood event. The limits of flooding shown should only be used as a guideline for emergency planning and response actions. A detailed hydrologic and hydraulic calibration effort was not completed to validate the results of this assessment.

In 1995, the USGS, in cooperation with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, began a program designed to generate reconnaissance maps of the sea floor offshore of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, one of the most populated coastal regions within the United States. The goal of this mapping program is to provide a regional synthesis of the sea-floor environment, including a description of sedimentary environments, sediment texture, sea-floor morphology, geologic history, and the geometry and structure of the Quaternary strata. This mapping effort differs from previous studies of these area by obtaining digital, sidescan-sonar images that cover 100 percent of the sea floor. The sidescan-sonar data were digitally mosaicked to provide a base suitable for use in the geographic information system (GIS) of the New York Bight region.

This dataset shows maximum conservation pool or is a reasonable representation of the boundaries for reservoirs and lakes owned and operated by USACE. Data is from USACE Districts.

In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within California’s State Waters. The program supports a large number of coastal-zone- and ocean-management issues, including the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) (California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2008), which requires information about the distribution of ecosystems as part of the design and proposal process for the establishment of Marine Protected Areas. A focus of CSMP is to map California’s State Waters with consistent methods at a consistent scale. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpretation, and visualization of swath sonar data (the undersea equivalent of satellite remote-sensing data in terrestrial mapping), acoustic backscatter, seafloor video, seafloor photography, high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, and bottom-sediment sampling data. The map products display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats, and illustrate both the surficial seafloor geology and shallow (to about 100 m) subsurface geology. It is emphasized that the more interpretive habitat and geology data rely on the integration of multiple, new high-resolution datasets and that mapping at small scales would not be possible without such data. This approach and CSMP planning is based in part on recommendations of the Marine Mapping Planning Workshop (Kvitek and others, 2006), attended by coastal and marine managers and scientists from around the state. That workshop established geographic priorities for a coastal mapping project and identified the need for coverage of “lands” from the shore strand line (defined as Mean Higher High Water; MHHW) out to the 3-nautical-mile (5.6-km) limit of California’s State Waters. Unfortunately, surveying the zone from MHHW out to 10-m water depth is not consistently possible using ship-based surveying methods, owing to sea state (for example, waves, wind, or currents), kelp coverage, and shallow rock outcrops. Accordingly, some of the data presented in this series commonly do not cover the zone from the shore out to 10-m depth. This data is part of a series of online U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) publications, each of which includes several map sheets, some explanatory text, and a descriptive pamphlet. Each map sheet is published as a PDF file. Geographic information system (GIS) files that contain both ESRI ArcGIS raster grids (for example, bathymetry, seafloor character) and geotiffs (for example, shaded relief) are also included for each publication. For those who do not own the full suite of ESRI GIS and mapping software, the data can be read using ESRI ArcReader, a free viewer that is available at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcreader/index.html (last accessed September 20, 2013). The California Seafloor Mapping Program is a collaborative venture between numerous different federal and state agencies, academia, and the private sector. CSMP partners include the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Ocean Protection Council, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Geological Survey, California State University at Monterey Bay’s Seafloor Mapping Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Center for Habitat Studies, Fugro Pelagos, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, including National Ocean Service–Office of Coast Surveys, National Marine Sanctuaries, and National Marine Fisheries Service), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. These web services for the Offshore Fort Ross map area includes data layers that are associated to GIS and map sheets available from the USGS CSMP web page at https://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/mapping/csmp/index.html. Each published CSMP map area includes a data catalog of geographic information system (GIS) files; map sheets that contain explanatory text; and an associated descriptive pamphlet. This web service represents the available data layers for this map area. Data was combined from different sonar surveys to generate a comprehensive high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter coverage of the map area. These data reveal a range of physiographic including exposed bedrock outcrops, large fields of sand waves, as well as many human impacts on the seafloor. To validate geological and biological interpretations of the sonar data, the U.S. Geological Survey towed a camera sled over specific offshore locations, collecting both video and photographic imagery; these “ground-truth” surveying data are available from the CSMP Video and Photograph Portal at https://doi.org/10.5066/F7J1015K. The “seafloor character” data layer shows classifications of the seafloor on the basis of depth, slope, rugosity (ruggedness), and backscatter intensity and which is further informed by the ground-truth-survey imagery. The “potential habitats” polygons are delineated on the basis of substrate type, geomorphology, seafloor process, or other attributes that may provide a habitat for a specific species or assemblage of organisms. Representative seismic-reflection profile data from the map area is also include and provides information on the subsurface stratigraphy and structure of the map area. The distribution and thickness of young sediment (deposited over the past about 21,000 years, during the most recent sea-level rise) is interpreted on the basis of the seismic-reflection data. The geologic polygons merge onshore geologic mapping (compiled from existing maps by the California Geological Survey) and new offshore geologic mapping that is based on integration of high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter imagery seafloor-sediment and rock samplesdigital camera and video imagery, and high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles. The information provided by the map sheets, pamphlet, and data catalog has a broad range of applications. High-resolution bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, ground-truth-surveying imagery, and habitat mapping all contribute to habitat characterization and ecosystem-based management by providing essential data for delineation of marine protected areas and ecosystem restoration. Many of the maps provide high-resolution baselines that will be critical for monitoring environmental change associated with climate change, coastal development, or other forcings. High-resolution bathymetry is a critical component for modeling coastal flooding caused by storms and tsunamis, as well as inundation associated with longer term sea-level rise. Seismic-reflection and bathymetric data help characterize earthquake and tsunami sources, critical for natural-hazard assessments of coastal zones. Information on sediment distribution and thickness is essential to the understanding of local and regional sediment transport, as well as the development of regional sediment-management plans. In addition, siting of any new offshore infrastructure (for example, pipelines, cables, or renewable-energy facilities) will depend on high-resolution mapping. Finally, this mapping will both stimulate and enable new scientific research and also raise public awareness of, and education about, coastal environments and issues. Web services were created using an ArcGIS service definition file. The ArcGIS REST service and OGC WMS service include all Offshore Fort Ross map area data layers. Data layers are symbolized as shown on the associated map sheets.

The Umpqua River drains 12,103 square kilometers (4,673 square miles) in southwest Oregon before flowing into the Pacific Ocean at Winchester Bay near the city of Reedsport. In cooperation with the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the USGS evaluated sediment transport and gravel storage along the downstream alluvial reaches of the North and South Umpqua Rivers and the entire mainstem Umpqua River. This includes the lower 46.8 kilometers (29.1 miles) of the North Umpqua River and the lower 122.6 kilometers (76.2 miles) of the South Umpqua River. The Umpqua River gravel transport study involved multiple analyses, including tracking patterns of historical channel change and estimation of a sediment budget. To support these analyses, digital channel maps were produced to depict channel and floodplain conditions along the Umpqua River system from different time periods. GIS layers defining the active channel of the Umpqua River system were developed for three time periods: 1939, 1967, and 2005. For the South Umpqua River and the 19 kilometers (12 miles) of the mainstem Umpqua River downstream from the confluence of the North and South Umpqua Rivers, GIS layers were also developed for the time periods 1994, 2000, and 2009. For this project, the active channel was defined as area typically inundated during annual high flows, and includes the low-flow channel as well as side channels, islands, and channel-flanking gravel bars. The active channel datasets were developed by digitizing from aerial photographs. Aerial photographs from 1939 and 1967 were scanned, rectified, and mosaiced for this project. Digital orthophotographs from 1994, 2000, 2005, and 2009 are publicly available (See metadata for each photograph set for more information on the rectification process and resolution of each dataset). Although our study area encompasses the Umpqua River and lower reaches of the North and South Umpqua Rivers, the extent of each dataset depended upon the underlying aerial photographs; for example, the 1967 photographs extend only as far downstream as floodplain kilometer 7, whereas the 1939 and 2005 datasets extend to the mouth of the Umpqua River at the Pacific Ocean.

In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, MA and St. Petersburg, FL, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District conducted geologic mapping to characterize the seafloor and shallow subsurface stratigraphy offshore of the Gulf Islands of Mississippi. The mapping was carried out during two cruises in March, 2010 on the R/V Tommy Munro of Biloxi, MS. Data were acquired with the following equipment: an SEA Ltd SwathPlus interferometric sonar (both 234 kHz and 468 kHz systems), a Klein 3000 and a Klein 3900 dual frequency sidescan-sonar, and an Edgetech 512i chirp subbottom profiling system. The long-term goal of this mapping effort is to produce high-quality, high-resolution geologic maps and geophysical interpretations that can be utilized to identify sand resources within the region and better understand the Holocene evolution and anticipate future changes in this coastal system. More information on the field work can be accessed from the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Field Activity webpage https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2010-012-FA or the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Geology InfoBank https://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/m/m210gm/html/m-2-10-gm.meta.html.

Coastal Area & Boundary Polygon: The Coastal Area layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer that includes the land and waters that lie within the Coastal Area as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-94(a). Activities and actions conducted within the coastal area by Federal and State Agencies (i.e., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), DEP regulatory programs, and state plans and actions) must be consistent with all of the applicable standards and criteria contained in the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). A subset of the Coastal Area, the Coastal Boundary, represents an area within which activities regulated or conducted by coastal municipalities must be consistent with the Coastal Management Act. As defined in this section of the statutes, the Coastal Area includes the land and water within the area delineated by the following: the westerly, southerly and easterly limits of the state's jurisdiction in Long Island Sound; the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, Milford, Orange, West Haven, New Haven, Hamden, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Deep River, Chester, Essex, Old Saybrook, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Waterford, New London, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Ledyard, Groton and Stonington. This layer includes a single polygon feature defined by the boundaries described above. Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend to denote the coastal area. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. This data is not updated. The Coastal Boundary layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer of the legal mylar-based maps adopted by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) (i.e., maps were adopted on a town by town basis) showing the extent of lands and coastal waters as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-93(5)) within Connecticut's coastal area (defined by C.G.S. 22a-94(c)). The coastal boundary is a hybrid of the original 1:24,000 version maps prepared by DEP consistent with C.G.S. 22a-94(d) (Coastal Area) and the revised boundary mapping undertaken by twenty-two coastal towns prepared pursuant to C.G.S. 22a-94(f). This layer therefore does not replace the legal maps and may not be used for legal determinations. The Coastal Boundary layer includes a single polygon feature that represents the coastal boundary. No other features are included in this layer. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend attribute and a CoastB_Flg attribute to denote the coastal boundary. Other attributes include automatically calculated Shape_Length and Shape_Area fields. This data is not updated. Any regulated activity conducted within the coastal boundary by a municipal agency (i.e., plans of development, zoning regulations, municipal coastal programs and coastal site plan review (i.e., site plans submitted to zoning commission, subdivision or resubdivision plans submitted to planning commission, application for special permit or exception to the zoning or planning commissions or zoning board of appeals, variance submitted to zoning board of appeals and a referral of a municipal project)) must be conducted in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (CMA; C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). As the Coastal Boundary is a hybrid of the Coastal Area, all state and federal agency activities must be consistent with the requirements of the CMA. As defined in C.G.S. 22a-94(b) the coastal boundary is a "continuous line delineated on the landward side by the interior contour elevation of the one hundred year frequency coastal flood zone, as defined and determined by the National Flood Insurance Act, as amended (USC 42 Section 4101, P.L. 93-234), or a one thousand foot linear setback measured from the mean high water mark in coastal waters, or a one thousand foot linear setback

In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within California’s State Waters. The program supports a large number of coastal-zone- and ocean-management issues, including the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) (California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2008), which requires information about the distribution of ecosystems as part of the design and proposal process for the establishment of Marine Protected Areas. A focus of CSMP is to map California’s State Waters with consistent methods at a consistent scale. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpretation, and visualization of swath sonar data (the undersea equivalent of satellite remote-sensing data in terrestrial mapping), acoustic backscatter, seafloor video, seafloor photography, high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, and bottom-sediment sampling data. The map products display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats, and illustrate both the surficial seafloor geology and shallow (to about 100 m) subsurface geology. It is emphasized that the more interpretive habitat and geology data rely on the integration of multiple, new high-resolution datasets and that mapping at small scales would not be possible without such data. This approach and CSMP planning is based in part on recommendations of the Marine Mapping Planning Workshop (Kvitek and others, 2006), attended by coastal and marine managers and scientists from around the state. That workshop established geographic priorities for a coastal mapping project and identified the need for coverage of “lands” from the shore strand line (defined as Mean Higher High Water; MHHW) out to the 3-nautical-mile (5.6-km) limit of California’s State Waters. Unfortunately, surveying the zone from MHHW out to 10-m water depth is not consistently possible using ship-based surveying methods, owing to sea state (for example, waves, wind, or currents), kelp coverage, and shallow rock outcrops. Accordingly, some of the data presented in this series commonly do not cover the zone from the shore out to 10-m depth. These data are a part of a series of online U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) publications, each of which includes several map sheets, some explanatory text, and a descriptive pamphlet. Each map sheet is published as a PDF file. Geographic information system (GIS) files that contain both ESRI ArcGIS raster grids (for example, bathymetry, seafloor character) and geotiffs (for example, shaded relief) are also included for each publication. For those who do not own the full suite of ESRI GIS and mapping software, the data can be read using ESRI ArcReader, a free viewer that is available at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcreader/index.html (last accessed September 20, 2013). The California Seafloor Mapping Program is a collaborative venture between numerous different federal and state agencies, academia, and the private sector. CSMP partners include the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Ocean Protection Council, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Geological Survey, California State University at Monterey Bay’s Seafloor Mapping Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Center for Habitat Studies, Fugro Pelagos, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, including National Ocean Service–Office of Coast Surveys, National Marine Sanctuaries, and National Marine Fisheries Service), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. These web services for the Offshore Aptos map area includes data layers that are associated to GIS and map sheets available from the USGS CSMP web page at https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/data/csmp/OffshoreAptos/data_catalog_OffshoreAptos.html. Each published CSMP map area includes a data catalog of geographic information system (GIS) files; map sheets that contain explanatory text; and an associated descriptive pamphlet. This web service represents the available data layers for this map area. Data was combined from different sonar surveys to generate a comprehensive high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter coverage of the map area. These data reveal a range of physiographic including exposed bedrock outcrops, large fields of sand waves, as well as many human impacts on the seafloor. To validate geological and biological interpretations of the sonar data, the U.S. Geological Survey towed a camera sled over specific offshore locations, collecting both video and photographic imagery; these “ground-truth” surveying data are available from the CSMP Video and Photograph Portal at https://doi.org/10.5066/F7J1015K. The “seafloor character” data layer shows classifications of the seafloor on the basis of depth, slope, rugosity (ruggedness), and backscatter intensity and which is further informed by the ground-truth-survey imagery. The “potential habitats” polygons are delineated on the basis of substrate type, geomorphology, seafloor process, or other attributes that may provide a habitat for a specific species or assemblage of organisms. Representative seismic-reflection profile data from the map area is also include and provides information on the subsurface stratigraphy and structure of the map area. The distribution and thickness of young sediment (deposited over the past about 21,000 years, during the most recent sea-level rise) is interpreted on the basis of the seismic-reflection data. The geologic polygons merge onshore geologic mapping (compiled from existing maps by the California Geological Survey) and new offshore geologic mapping that is based on integration of high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter imagery seafloor-sediment and rock samples, digital camera and video imagery, and high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles. The information provided by the map sheets, pamphlet, and data catalog has a broad range of applications. High-resolution bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, ground-truth-surveying imagery, and habitat mapping all contribute to habitat characterization and ecosystem-based management by providing essential data for delineation of marine protected areas and ecosystem restoration. Many of the maps provide high-resolution baselines that will be critical for monitoring environmental change associated with climate change, coastal development, or other forcings. High-resolution bathymetry is a critical component for modeling coastal flooding caused by storms and tsunamis, as well as inundation associated with longer term sea-level rise. Seismic-reflection and bathymetric data help characterize earthquake and tsunami sources, critical for natural-hazard assessments of coastal zones. Information on sediment distribution and thickness is essential to the understanding of local and regional sediment transport, as well as the development of regional sediment-management plans. In addition, siting of any new offshore infrastructure (for example, pipelines, cables, or renewable-energy facilities) will depend on high-resolution mapping. Finally, this mapping will both stimulate and enable new scientific research and also raise public awareness of, and education about, coastal environments and issues. Web services were created using an ArcGIS service definition file. The ArcGIS REST service and OGC WMS service include all Offshore Pigeon Point map area data layers. Data layers are symbolized as shown on the associated map sheets for USGS Open-File Report 2015-1232 (https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151232).

In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, MA and St. Petersburg, FL, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District conducted geologic mapping to characterize the seafloor and shallow subsurface stratigraphy offshore of the Gulf Islands of Mississippi. The mapping was carried out during two cruises in March, 2010 on the R/V Tommy Munro of Biloxi, MS. Data were acquired with the following equipment: an SEA Ltd SwathPlus interferometric sonar (both 234 kHz and 468 kHz systems), a Klein 3000 and a Klein 3900 dual frequency sidescan-sonar, and an Edgetech 512i chirp subbottom profiling system. The long-term goal of this mapping effort is to produce high-quality, high-resolution geologic maps and geophysical interpretations that can be utilized to identify sand resources within the region and better understand the Holocene evolution and anticipate future changes in this coastal system. More information on the field work can be accessed from the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Field Activity webpage http://quashnet.er.usgs.gov/data/2010/10012/ or the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Geology InfoBank http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/m/m210gm/html/m-2-10-gm.meta.html.

The Sandy Hook artificial reef, located on the sea floor offshore of Sandy Hook, New Jersey was built to create habitat for marine life. The reef was created by the placement of heavy materials on the sea floor; ninety-five percent of the material in the Sandy Hook reef is rock. In 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey surveyed the area using a Simrad EM1000 multibeam echosounder mounted on the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) ship Frederick G. Creed. The purpose of this multibeam survey, done in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when the Creed was in the New York region in April 2000, was to map the bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor in the area of the Sandy Hook artificial reef. The collected data from this cruise are bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and navigation trackline.