Optical spectra reported here are collected from 17 surface water sampling sites within the Fraser River, a headwaters drainage of the Upper Colorado River Basin in the central western United States. The sample collection was conducted as part of the partnership between the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Next Generation Water Observation System (NGWOS) and Proxies Project, in coordination with the USGS Colorado Water Science Center and California Water Science Center, and the East Grand Water Quality Board.

This dataset includes 63 still images extracted from digital video imagery of sediment grab samples, along with laboratory grain size analysis of the sediment grab samples, taken from the mouth of the Columbia River, OR and WA, USA. Digital video was collected in September 2014 in the mouth of the Columbia River, USA, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program contribution to the Office of Naval Research funded River and Inlets Dynamics experiment (RIVET II). Still images were extracted from the underwater video footage whenever the camera was resting on the sediment bed and individual sediment grains were visible and in focus. The images were used to calculate the calibration curve through auto-correlation regressed against the results of laboratory-determined median grain size (D50) of the grab samples (Barnard, 2007), provided in an accompanying .csv file.

The acoustic Doppler current meter (ADCP) used in this study outputs binary data files containing measurement scheme, location, time, velocity, backscatter, boat heading, depth, and other parameters. These data are provided here in the manufacturer's "classic ASCII" format, as described in READMEforADCP.txt file associated with this data release. We also collected water samples for suspended-sediment concentration, with co-located ADCP backscatter data. These data are provided in a separate file indicating date, time, and location of these observations. Data were collected at three locations in Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in California: Lindsey Slough; Mokelumne River; and Old River.

Two 21-day field operations were conducted in 1997 and 1998 in the estuaries and on the inner continental shelf off the northern Oregon and southern Washington coast. These cruises aboard the R/V Corliss were run in order to generate reconnaissance maps of the seafloor geology and the shallow subsurface stratigraphy using sidescan-sonar and seismic-reflection mapping techniques. The 1998 cruise also collected sediment grab samples, bottom photographs, and video images to verify the sidescan-sonar imagery and to document the seafloor geology. The combination of these data with previously collected sediment sample data (Robert, 1974; Nittrouer, 1978; and Smith et. al., 1980) has been used to define the extent and lithology of shelf sediments associated with the Columbia River littoral cell. This work is one component of a larger project studying the erosion of the Washington Oregon coasts and is being coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Washington State Department of Ecology. The reasons for collecting these data are to provide a regional synthesis of the offshore geology for this project and to support a wide variety of management decisions and to provide a basis for further process-oriented investigations.

This portion of the USGS data release presents bathymetry data collected during surveys performed in the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon, in 2021 (USGS Field Activity Number 2021-632-FA). Bathymetry data were collected using four personal watercraft (PWCs) equipped with single-beam sonar systems and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The sonar systems consisted of an Odom Echotrac CV-100 single-beam echosounder and 200 kHz transducer with a 9-degree beam angle. Raw acoustic backscatter returns were digitized by the echosounder with a vertical resolution of 1.25 cm. Depths from the echosounders were computed using sound velocity profiles measured using a YSI CastAway CTD during the survey. Positioning of the survey vessels was determined at 5 to 10 Hz using Trimble R7 GNSS receivers. Output from the GNSS receivers and sonar systems were combined in real time on the PWC by a computer running HYPACK hydrographic survey software. Navigation information was displayed on a video monitor, allowing PWC operators to navigate along survey lines at speeds of 2 to 3 m/s. Survey-grade positions of the PWCs were achieved with a single-base station and differential post-processing. Positioning data from the GNSS receivers were post-processed using Waypoint Grafnav to apply differential corrections from a GNSS base station with known horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the North American Datum of 1983. Orthometric elevations relative to the NAVD88 vertical datum were computed using National Geodetic Survey Geoid12a offsets. Bathymetric data were merged with post-processed positioning data and spurious soundings were removed using a custom Graphical User Interface (GUI) programmed with the computer program MATLAB. The average estimated vertical uncertainty of the bathymetric measurements is 10 cm. The final point data from the PWCs are provided in a comma-separated text file and are projected in cartesian coordinates using the Washington State Plane South, meters coordinate system.

This portion of the USGS data release presents bathymetry data collected during surveys performed in the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon, in 2020 (USGS Field Activity Number 2020-622-FA). Bathymetry data were collected using four personal watercraft (PWCs) equipped with single-beam sonar systems and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The sonar systems consisted of an Odom Echotrac CV-100 single-beam echosounder and 200 kHz transducer with a 9-degree beam angle. Raw acoustic backscatter returns were digitized by the echosounder with a vertical resolution of 1.25 cm. Depths from the echosounders were computed using sound velocity profiles measured using a YSI CastAway CTD during the survey. Positioning of the survey vessels was determined at 5 to 10 Hz using Trimble R7 GNSS receivers. Output from the GNSS receivers and sonar systems were combined in real time on the PWC by a computer running HYPACK hydrographic survey software. Navigation information was displayed on a video monitor, allowing PWC operators to navigate along survey lines at speeds of 2 to 3 m/s. Survey-grade positions of the PWCs were achieved with a single-base station and differential post-processing. Positioning data from the GNSS receivers were post-processed using Waypoint Grafnav to apply differential corrections from a GNSS base station with known horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the North American Datum of 1983. Orthometric elevations relative to the NAVD88 vertical datum were computed using National Geodetic Survey Geoid12a offsets. Bathymetric data were merged with post-processed positioning data and spurious soundings were removed using a custom Graphical User Interface (GUI) programmed with the computer program MATLAB. The average estimated vertical uncertainty of the bathymetric measurements is 10 cm. The final point data from the PWCs are provided in a comma-separated text file and are projected in cartesian coordinates using the Washington State Plane South, meters coordinate system. Due to equipment and staffing issues associated with the global pandemic, bathymetric surveys performed at the southern portion of the Clatsop Plains sub-cell (survey lines 71 to 101) and North Beach sub-cell were performed several weeks after the corresponding topographic surveys. The CTD was not available for bathymetric surveys at these locations and an assumed speed of sound of 1,500 and 1,490 m/s was applied to soundings collected in the North Beach sub-cell and southern portion of the Clatsop sub-cell, respectively.

This dataset contains surface sediment grain diameter measurements from in situ seafloor images collected in the lower Columbia River, Washington and Oregon, in 2021. Surface sediment grain diameters were derived from manual measurements (or "point counts") in a subset of images used to calibrate and validate an automated image processing algorithm to determine surface sediment grain size distributions. For each calibration and validation image that was selected, the long and short axis of 100 grains were manually measured. The grain diameter measurements are provided in comma-separated (.csv) format and compressed into separate .zip archives for images used for calibration and validation of the automated image processing technique.

This portion of the USGS data release presents bathymetry data collected during surveys performed in the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon in 2015 (USGS Field Activity Number 2015-647-FA). Bathymetry data were collected using four personal watercraft (PWCs) equipped with single-beam sonar systems and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The sonar systems consisted of an Odom Echotrac CV-100 single-beam echosounder and 200 kHz transducer with a 9 degree beam angle. Raw acoustic backscatter returns were digitized by the echosounder with a vertical resolution of 1.25 cm. Depths from the echosounders were computed using sound velocity profiles measured using a YSI CastAway CTD during the survey. Positioning of the survey vessels was determined at 5 to 10 Hz using Trimble R7 GNSS receivers. Output from the GNSS receivers and sonar systems were combined in real time on the PWC by a computer running HYPACK hydrographic survey software. Navigation information was displayed on a video monitor, allowing PWC operators to navigate along survey lines at speeds of 2 to 3 m/s. Survey-grade positions of the PWCs were achieved with a single-base station and differential post-processing. Positioning data from the GNSS receivers were post-processed using Waypoint Grafnav to apply differential corrections from a GNSS base station with known horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the North American Datum of 1983. Orthometric elevations relative to the NAVD88 vertical datum were computed using National Geodetic Survey Geoid12a offsets. Bathymetric data were merged with post-processed positioning data and spurious soundings were removed using a custom Graphical User Interface (GUI) programmed with the computer program MATLAB. The average estimated vertical uncertainty of the bathymetric measurements is 10 cm. The final point data from the PWCs are provided in a comma-separated text file and are projected in cartesian coordinates using the Washington State Plane South, meters coordinate system.

This portion of the USGS data release presents bathymetry data collected during surveys performed in the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon in 2014 (USGS Field Activity Number 2014-631-FA). Bathymetry data were collected using four personal watercraft (PWCs) equipped with single-beam sonar systems and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The sonar systems consisted of an Odom Echotrac CV-100 single-beam echosounder and 200 kHz transducer with a 9° beam angle. Raw acoustic backscatter returns were digitized by the echosounder with a vertical resolution of 1.25 cm. Depths from the echosounders were computed using sound velocity profiles measured using a YSI CastAway CTD during the survey. Positioning of the survey vessels was determined at 5 to 10 Hz using Trimble R7 GNSS receivers. Output from the GNSS receivers and sonar systems were combined in real time on the PWC by a computer running HYPACK hydrographic survey software. Navigation information was displayed on a video monitor, allowing PWC operators to navigate along survey lines at speeds of 2–3 m/s. Survey-grade positions of the PWCs were achieved with a single-base station and differential post-processing. Positioning data from the GNSS receivers were post-processed using Waypoint Grafnav to apply differential corrections from a GNSS base station with known horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the North American Datum of 1983. Orthometric elevations relative to the NAVD88 vertical datum were computed using National Geodetic Survey Geoid12a offsets. Bathymetric data were merged with post-processed positioning data and spurious soundings were removed using a custom Graphical User Interface (GUI) programmed with the computer program MATLAB. The average estimated vertical uncertainty of the bathymetric measurements is 10 cm. The final point data from the PWCs are provided in a comma-separated text file and are projected in cartesian coordinates using the Washington State Plane South, meters coordinate system.