Change Analysis for San Francisco Bay
Woolpert was tasked to analyze the three most recent multibeam bathymetry surveys for West-Central Bay, Suisun Bay, and Middle Ground, sub-embayments within San Francisco Bay, CA. The Woolpert team compared surveys from 2008, 2014 and 2018. The primary objective of the analysis was to compare the three datasets and determine if any of the datasets had a potential survey issue due to differences in technology and processing techniques and evaluation over the past ten years. Any issues would cause a dataset to be disregarded. Woolpert had performed the most recent survey in Spring 2018 while the 2014 and 2008 surveys were performed by the Sea Floor Mapping Lab (SFML) of California State University, Monterey Bay.
Each dataset was compiled in QPS Qimera and Qinsy Sounding Grid Editor to generate difference comparisons, cross sections, and total statistical analysis. Woolpert compared each area, including hard-bottom areas that were deemed to have the least amount of natural change due to lack of material (sediment or vegetation coverage). Data quality checks like these are vital to the industry for understanding different modes of data collection and processing.
Location
San Francisco Bay, CA