AFSC/RACE/GAP/McConnaughey: Bristol Bay Reconnaissance Study

Environmental variables that are ecologically relevant and easily measured over large areas are useful for modelling species distributions and habitats. Continuous acoustic, sonar-backscatter data convey information about physical properties of the seabed, and hence could be a valuable addition to that suite of variables. The potential utility of acoustic backscatter was tested for improving habitat models of marine species using data from a pilot sidescan-sonar survey conducted from 28 June to 3 July 2002 in the Bristol Bay region of the eastern Bering Sea (EBS). Raw digital backscatter data were processed with QTC SIDEVIEW and CLAMS software to objectively segment bedform based on statistical analysis of the echograms. Resultant acoustic variables - Q-values (Q1, Q2, and Q3)-, representing the first three principal components of the data derived from image analysis of backscatter echoes, and a complexity metric (compx) measuring the variance of Q-values in a geographic area - were used in multiple linear regression to model individual species abundance from bottom-trawl survey data.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {006:48}
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catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:17104
language {en-US}
modified 2015-07-30T12:32:47.710000-04:00
old-spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-162.242882, 55.830994], [-159.018071, 55.830994], [-159.018071, 58.32594], [-162.242882, 58.32594], [-162.242882, 55.830994]]]}
programCode {006:056}
publisher (Point of Contact)
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 5d4b291596daca05dce905269adc11e39fe5b28b
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-162.242882, 55.830994], [-159.018071, 55.830994], [-159.018071, 58.32594], [-162.242882, 58.32594], [-162.242882, 55.830994]]]}
temporal 2002-06-03T00:00:00/2002-07-03T00:00:00
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • acoustic-sediment-classification
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • bering-sea
  • ckan
  • doc-noaa-nmfs-afsc-alaska-fisheries-science-center
  • geo
  • geoss
  • grain-size-analysis
  • groundfish-assessment-program
  • national
  • national-marine-fisheries-service
  • noaa
  • north-america
  • u-s-department-of-commerce
  • united-states
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer McConnaughey, Bob
maintainer_email bob.mcconnaughey@noaa.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-21T10:36:56.896116
metadata_modified 2025-11-21T10:36:56.896120
notes Environmental variables that are ecologically relevant and easily measured over large areas are useful for modelling species distributions and habitats. Continuous acoustic, sonar-backscatter data convey information about physical properties of the seabed, and hence could be a valuable addition to that suite of variables. The potential utility of acoustic backscatter was tested for improving habitat models of marine species using data from a pilot sidescan-sonar survey conducted from 28 June to 3 July 2002 in the Bristol Bay region of the eastern Bering Sea (EBS). Raw digital backscatter data were processed with QTC SIDEVIEW and CLAMS software to objectively segment bedform based on statistical analysis of the echograms. Resultant acoustic variables - Q-values (Q1, Q2, and Q3)-, representing the first three principal components of the data derived from image analysis of backscatter echoes, and a complexity metric (compx) measuring the variance of Q-values in a geographic area - were used in multiple linear regression to model individual species abundance from bottom-trawl survey data.
num_resources 2
num_tags 16
title AFSC/RACE/GAP/McConnaughey: Bristol Bay Reconnaissance Study