Ice-Rafted Sediment Deposits and Coverage in the Great Marsh

Six months of field sampling and orthographic image analysis in 2018 documented ice-rafted sediment deposits in the Great Marsh, Massachusetts. The dataset, curated by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, includes deposit locations, thickness measurements, and calculated total sediment coverage. Data is stored in an ArcGIS geodatabase with shapefiles and supporting Excel spreadsheets.

Use Cases

• Mapping deposit_locations and deposit_polygons to analyze spatial distribution patterns of ice-rafted sediment across the marsh.
• Correlating depth_measurement values with sample_locations to model sediment transport energy and deposition processes.
• Using calculated total_sediment_coverage values from spreadsheets to assess the seasonal impact of ice-rafting on marsh sediment budget.
• Integrating sample_location tables with geodatabase features for stratified analysis of sediment deposit characteristics.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a defined six-month period from January to July 2018, capturing seasonal ice-rafting processes.
• Multiple complementary data types: geospatial vector data (locations, polygons) and tabular measurement and calculation data.

Limitations

• Sample size and row counts for measurements and deposits are unknown, limiting statistical assessment.
• Temporal scope is limited to a single season, preventing analysis of inter-annual variability.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0210237).

Collection Method

Field sample collection combined with analysis of orthographic images in ArcGIS.

Time Range

2018-01-26 to 2018-07-03

Freshness

Data reflects conditions from 2018; no update frequency specified.

Geography

Great Marsh, Massachusetts, USA.