Small‐scale mapping of the exclusive economic zone using wide‐swath side‐scan sonar

Abstract

Abstract The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) started a program in April 1984 to map the deep‐water (greater than 200 m) areas of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at a reconnaissance scale as a first effort to develop a geologic understanding of the new national offshore territory. This effort was in response to President Reagan's EEZ proclamation in March 1983, which extended U.S. jurisdiction over an area extending 200 nautical miles offshore of the United States and U.S. trust territories. This USGS mapping effort is a cooperative effort with the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) of the United Kingdom and uses a unique side‐scan sonar system named GLORIA (Geological Long‐Range Inclined Asdic) developed by IOS. To date, over 3,500,000 km2 have been mapped off the west coast, the east coast, the Island of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bering Sea. All of these surveys have been highlighted by discoveries of major geologic features that contri...