Current Status

Updated June 23, 1994

Multibeam datafiles from the Northeast Pacific are currently available for for direct file transfer and interactive viewing in both "raw" form and gridded terrain models. The currently served data were compiled by Dr. Chris Fox, Andra Bobbitt, and their colleagues at the NOAA-Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and delivered to Lamont-Doherty in late April, 1994. At NOAA-PMEL, older data were geodetically corrected from Loran-C to merge with more recently collected GPS navigated data.

The data files were received in the URI-NECOR format. They have been converted to the MB-System M14 format and HDF format. The files have been verified for quality and accuracy, and edited as necessary.

Track charts for each file have been generated with the GMT pstrack software at page size (8.5 x 11 inches). For each chart a smaller version has been saved in GIF format for viewing over the network. These PostScript files are online and available for viewing and transfer.

Ping Data are available in two formats: Mb-System M14 format (the URI-NECOR equivalent), and HDF format. For each file, a comprehensive information page has been generated which provides format, number of beams, number of records, begin time, end time, and geographic bounds, etc. These pages are online and available for viewing.

Digital terrain models have been generated. These files are in both GMT .cdf (NetCDF) format and .hdf format. They are also available for viewing, customizing, and direct file transfer.

Imagery of each terrain model has been generated and is available for viewing, customizing, and direct file transfer in PostScript, GIF and HDF format.

A "once-off" CD-ROM Writer has been acquired. It arrived April 23, after considerable delay. A few test platters have been burned, and are now in the process of being verified for machine independence. Within a few weeks the first CD-ROMs containing the Northeast Pacific multibeam data will be available to the public. These CD-ROMs are read using NCSA Mosaic, by opening a local URL to the html directory on the CD-ROM. Thus the CD-ROM appears almost exactly as the Internet version of the RIDGE Multibeam Database.

A demonstration of the prototype CD-ROM containing the Northeast Pacific Data was given at the Spring Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, by Chris Keeley. We would like to acknowledge SeaBeam Instruments, Inc. for generously allowing us to use their computer in Baltimore.

An agreement was negotiated between L-DEO and the National Geophysical Data Center. L-DEO will make the Master CD-ROM and NGDC will subsequently print the CD-ROMS and handle the public circulation for RIDGE.