A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

A custom designed Klein 7180 towed sonar was deployed from the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER to determine its value of acoustic backscatter as a habitat defining character. A Sonardyne Fusion USBL system was used to estimate underwater positioning of the towfish using an omnidirectional Wideband submini beacon operating in external trigger mode. Navigation data were logged in QINSy and exported into a text file. The towfish positions were then smoothed in Matlab using a custom script that implemented a weighted Hamming filter, using a window of 11 data points. These points represent the smoothed USBL navigation data for the Klein 7180 towfish during the Arctic reconnaissance transit from Dutch Harbor to Kotzebue. These smoothed towfish navigation data, however, will NOT ultimately be reinserted back into the sonar files for mosaicking and analysis. Rather, another navigation smoothing routine will be used for the final product.

The "add on" project area surveyed depths between the 27 and 175 meter depths around St. George Island and St Paul Island in the Central Bering Sea. Full bottom coverage, consisting of 100% multibeam data was achieved within the limits of hydrography for this survey. One hundred percent backscatter data was acquired and stored by TerraSond, Ltd to be processed by the client. The data were collected from the R/V Mount Mitchell by Terrasond, Inc using a Simrad EM710 multibeam echosounder.

The "add on" project area surveyed depths between the 27 and 175 meter depths around St. George Island and St Paul Island in the Central Bering Sea. Full bottom coverage, consisting of 100% multibeam data was achieved within the limits of hydrography for this survey. One hundred percent backscatter data was acquired and stored by TerraSond, Ltd to be processed by the client. The data were collected from the R/V Mount Mitchell by Terrasond, Inc using a Simrad EM710 multibeam echosounder.

These data are haul positions and haul depths collected throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands groundfish trawl surveys. Vessel positions are recorded using Globe software installed on a computer that is also connected to a real time Global Positioning System unit and depth sounder for depth data.The log files are in a binary GLOBE format that is proprietary.

The broad scope of the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) mandate requires an efficient process for describing and mapping the habitat needs of federally managed species. For example, research indicates surficial sediments affect the distribution and abundance of many groundfish species, yet traditional sampling with grabs and cores is impractical over areas as large as the Bering Sea shelf. Acoustic tools are suitable for large-scale surveying and show great promise as a substitute for direct-sampling methods, but they have not been proven useful for EFH purposes.