USGS
Read-me File
Archive of Boomer and Sparker Data
Collected During USGS Cruise DIAN 97011
Long Island, NY Inner Shelf -- Fire Island,
5 - 26 May, 1997
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-241

by Jenna C. Hill, William C. Schwab, David S. Foster

U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA 02543
INTRODUCTION

This CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) has been produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 CD-ROM Standard and is therefore capable of being read on any computing platform that has appropriate CD-ROM driver software installed. Access to the data and information contained on this CD-ROM was developed using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) utilized by the World Wide Web (WWW) project. Development of the CD-ROM documentation and user interface in HTML allows a user to access the information by using a variety of WWW information browsers (i.e. NCSA Mosaic, Netscape) to facilitate browsing and locating information and data. To access the information contained on this disk with a WWW client browser, open the file 'index.htm' at the top level directory of this CD-ROM with your selected browser. The HTML documentation is written utilizing some HTML 4.0 enhancements. The disk should be viewable by all WWW browsers but may not properly format on some older WWW browsers.

Also, some links to USGS collaborators and other agencies are available on this CD-ROM. These links are only accessible if access to the Internet is available during browsing of the CD-ROM.

The archived Boomer and Sparker subbottom data are in standard Society of Exploration Geologists (SEG) SEG-Y format (Barry and others, 1975) and may be downloaded for processing with software such as Seismic Unix or SIOSEIS. The subbottom data were recorded on the Mudseis data acquisition system in SEG-Y format. The conversion program processSegy was used to renumber the traces as trace 1 or traces 1 and 2 for 2-channel data and fill out the SEG-Y EBCDIC reel header. The Mudseis system begins with trace 0 instead of 1. Much of the information needed to process the data is stored in the SEG-Y headers: a 3200 byte EBCDIC reel header; a 400 byte binary reel header; and a 240 byte trace header for each seismic trace. DOS and Microsoft Windows compatible software for plotting SEG-Y files (PLOTSEIS) and viewing SEG-Y headers (DUMPSEGY) is located in the PLOTSEIS directory. Processed chirp profiles (GIF images) may be viewed on this CD-ROM with your WWW browser.
BACKGROUND

In 1995, the USGS Woods Hole Field Center, in Cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began a program designed to map the seafloor offshore of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area; the most heavily populated, and one of the most impacted coastal regions of the United States. The ultimate goal of this program is to provide an overall synthesis of the sea floor environment, including surficial sediment texture, subsurface geometry, and anthropogenic impact (e.g. ocean dumping, trawling, channel dredging), through the use and analysis of sidescan-sonar and subbottom mapping techniques. This regional synthesis will support a wide range of management decisions and will provide a basis for further process-oriented investigations.

DIRECTORIES

Directory BIN:
Subdirectory PLOTSEIS:  This directory contains the DOS programs for plotting SEG-Y files and viewing SEG-Y headers.
Subdirectory SU: Contains the Seismic Unix scripts used to process and plot the boomer and sparker subbottom data and extract shot navigation from the SEG-Y headers
Directory HTMLDOCS: Contains the necessary HTML files and supporting graphics to allow the user access to the CD-ROM via any World Wide Web (WWW) browser.

Directory IMAGES: Contains GIF and JPEG images that are used by HTML hyperlinks.

Directory MAPS: This directory contains basemap and shot navigation themes. The data may be displayed with ARCVIEW version 3.1 or above, or ARCEXPLORER. You may need to copy the directories to disk and edit the .apr file in the PROJECT subdirectory to reflect the new directory paths.

Directory NAV:
Subdirectory RAWNAV: This directory contains raw differential GPS (DGPS) navigation files as the data became available during the cruise.
Subdirectory SHOTNAV: Contains the shot navigation data that were collected during the cruise using a USGS DGPS system.
Directory SEGY: This directory contains the boomer and sparker subbottom data collected on the DIAN 97011 cruise. These data were logged on the Mudseis acquisition system, a PC based seismic acquisition system developed by the USGS Menlo Park Field Center. The files are in standard 16-bit integer SEG-Y format. The SEG-Y files consist of shot files with one or two traces per shot depending if one or two channels were recorded. Channel one was an ITI streamer and channel 2 when recorded was a Benthos streamer. There are 1600 samples per trace. The sample rate was 0.125 ms which resulted in a trace length of 200 ms. The boomer and sparker were fired at a rate of 0.5 seconds.

Directory SEISIMAG: Contains the GIF format files of the Boomer and Sparker subbottom profiles generated with Seismic Unix.
DISCLAIMER
 
This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and/or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data, software, or related materials.
REFERENCES

Barry, R.M., Cavers, D.A., and Kneale, C.W., 1975, Recommended standards for digital tape formats, Geophysics, v. 40, p. 344-352

Zihlman, F.N., 1992a, DUMPSEGY V1.0: A program to examine the contents of SEG-Y disk-image seismic data; U.S. Geological Survey Open File 92-590.

Zihlman, F.N., 1992b, PLOTSEGY V1.0: A DOS graphics program to display SEG-Y disk-image seismic data; U.S. Geological Survey Open File 92-349A and 92-349B.