GeoTIFF image of the backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the Hudson Canyon region (100-m resolution, Mercator, WGS 84)

The Hudson Canyon begins on the outer continental shelf off the east coast of the United States at about 100-meters (m) water depth and extends offshore southeastward across the continental slope and rise. A multibeam survey was carried out in 2002 to map the bathymetry and backscatter intensity of the sea floor of the Hudson Canyon and adjacent slope and rise. The survey covered an area approximately 205 kilometers (km) in the offshore direction, extending from about 500 m to about 4,000 m water depth, and about 110 km in the alongshore direction, centered on the Hudson Canyon. The sea floor was mapped using a SeaBeam Instruments 2112 multibeam echosounder aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Ronald H. Brown. Maps derived from the multibeam observations show sea-floor bathymetry and backscatter intensity (a measure of sea floor texture and roughness), geomorphic provinces, and sea-floor environments (Butman and others, 2006). The sea floor was mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Rutgers University and with support from NOAA.