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Sea Floor Image Maps Showing Topography, Sun-Illuminated Topography, Backscatter Intensity, Ruggedness, Slope, and the Distribution of Boulder Ridges and Bedrock Outcrops in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Region off Boston, Massachusetts

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2840

Page C. Valentine, editor

Map D. — Sea Floor Ruggedness in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Region

By Page C. Valentine, Lian A. Scully, and Sarah J. Fuller

2005


Figure 1.  Backscatter intensity index.  Interpretation of seabed type applies best in areas of low topographic reliefa.

Sea floor terrain ruggedness index (TRI). Colors represent the average change in elevation, in centimeters, between a central area (a 13- x 13-m pixel) and the eight pixels that surround it (total area analyzed is three pixels by three pixels, or 39 x 39 m in size). For example, on the map blue represents central pixels having an average elevation change of >70 to 80 cm with respect to their surrounding eight-pixel areas. Note the elevation-change increments in the color scale vary from 10 cm to 50 cm to 100 cm. A filter was applied to the ruggedness index image to smooth the boundaries between the mapped intervals. The filter calculated the mean of the TRI value of each pixel and its eight neighboring pixels in a three-pixel by three-pixel grid that measures 39 x 39 m. Areas of ruggedness were calculated using this filtered image; see table 1.


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