Infomar SBP Data User Guide

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler
Data User Guide

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide
Prepared By Date Comment
INFOMAR Data Management Steering Group (Peter Heath, Charise

Jan 2021
McKeon, David Hardy, Trevor Alcorn)
MI (Fabio Sacchetti) Jan 2021
Version History
Ver. No. Ver. Date Comment By

1 Jan 2021 - PH/CMK/DH/FS
INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide ii

Table of Contents
1 Sub Bottom Profiler (SBP) data overview ................................................................. 4
1.1 Data availability ......................................................................................................4
1.2 Data formats available ...........................................................................................4
2 Celtic Explorer and Celtic Voyager ............................................................................ 5
2.1 Celtic Explorer (CE) and Celtic Voyager (CV) data overview ..................................5
2.2 SEG-Y formatting details ........................................................................................5
2.3 Coordinates considerations ...................................................................................5
2.4 CV and CE known data issues.................................................................................5
3 RV Keary ................................................................................................................. 8
3.1 RV Keary data overview .........................................................................................8
3.2 SEG-Y formatting details ........................................................................................8
3.3 Coordinates considerations ...................................................................................8
3.4 RV Keary known data issues...................................................................................8
INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide iii

1 Sub Bottom Profiler (SBP) data overview
1.1 Data availability

Sub Bottom Profile data (SBP) is available for both the INFOMAR Programme (2006 - Present) and
Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS, 2000-2006), acquired jointly by the Marine Institute (MI) and
Geological Survey Ireland (GSI).
SBP data is primarily available for surveys acquired by the RV Celtic Voyager and RV Celtic Explorer
(operated by MI) and the RV Keary (operated by GSI). The systems used are survey dependent and
include Pinger, Chirp and Sparker systems. The MI vessels routinely collect SBP data on each of their
surveys, however this is not the same for the GSI, which collect SBP on an ad hoc basis. If SBP data
has been collected it is not necessarily available for every survey line.
1.2 Data formats available

In order to provide easily accessible open data we aim to deliver all the SBP data in SEG-Y format
(.sgy, .segy). The majority of the data was originally collected in proprietary formats such as .CODA,
.JSF and others, depending on the survey and system used. This original raw data can also be made
available upon request.
INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 4

2 Celtic Explorer and Celtic Voyager
2.1 Celtic Explorer (CE) and Celtic Voyager (CV) data overview
The majority of CE and CV data has been captured in ‘.COD’ (CODA). Conversion of the CODA to
SEG-Y data to date has been completed using CODA file Utilities (Format Converters – CODA to SEG-
Y Converter – Settings are: Generic SEG-Y/Meters/.sgy Filters: All Types/Channels/Triggers).
The majority of CV data was collected using a Pinger (SES 5000 2x2 array) until late 2019 when it was
replaced by a Knudsen Chirp system. The CE has used a Pinger (SES 5000 4x4 array) until 2015 when
it was replaced with a iXblue Echo3000 chirp system.
2.2 SEG-Y formatting details
Celtic Explorer and Celtic Voyager SEG-Y formatting details

Text Header EBCDIC
Endian Encoding Big
Data Samples 16 bit signed
Coordinate Reference System(CRS) UTM - receiver/source fields
2.3 Coordinates considerations

The majority of CE and CV surveys are UTM29N (though some, depending on their location, might be
in be UTM28 or UTM30).
Please note: definition of the appropriate UTM zone is not encoded in the SEGY trace headers and
must be determined with reference to the leg report / survey location / other metadata.
For surveys in UTM, you may also need to divide/multiply whatever you extract by the nav data
scalar (specified in the trace header also - bytes 71-72) - normally it is set to divide by 100.
For the small minority of surveys collected in WGS84 (arc seconds). To view this correctly in WGS84
- EPSG 4326 (as decimal degrees); the values need to be divided by 3600 (converting from arc
seconds to degrees) – the result will then need to be divided/multiplied by the scalar value stored in
bytes 71-72.
2.4 CV and CE known data issues

Some CE/CV SBP files have incorrect recording delay values in the data file headers. Occurrences of
this issue are mainly found in the older INSS (2000-2006) data, but the issue does extend into some
more recent INFOMAR survey legs. Normally, the recording delay (used to avoid recording the full
travel through the water column) would be manually adjusted during acquisition. This is then
tracked in the data headers – and the impact can be removed when creating overview plots. For
many of the CE/CV legs, a smart ‘box’ was used which read the water depth from the SBES and
automatically calculated and adjusted the recording delay as depth changed. Unfortunately, the
delay this smart-box applied was never fed back to CODA/tracked in the data headers – manifesting
as ‘steps’ in the data when overview plots are created. Figure 1 and 2 shows an example of this
issue. We look to address these issues in the future and to republish the data.

Figure 1- Example of incorrect recording delay ‘step’ on CE/CV data
By default, the data stored in CODA files are very raw, with no signal enhancement. Routine signal
enhancement would be applied during CODA playback – which was not possible in every seismic
package. Data in these files generally benefit from a frequency bandpass filter (around 3.5kHz for
older data); applying a linear gain from the seabed are also needed.
Figure 2 - Profile before a bandpass filter centred on the 3.5kHz transmit frequency (no gain adjustments) is
applied.

Figure 3 - Profile after a bandpass filter centred on the 3.5kHz transmit frequency (no gain adjustments) is
applied.
Figure 4 - Example of a band pass filter

3 RV Keary
3.1 RV Keary data overview

The majority of SBP data from the RV Keary was acquired using Chirp (Edgetech CHIRP 3200) system
and is in .jsf format.
To convert the raw .jsf data to SEG-Y a ‘how to’ document and .jsf to SEG-Y converter can be made
available upon request.
3.2 SEG-Y formatting details
Keary SEG-Y formatting details

Text Header ASCII characters
Endian Encoding Big
Data Samples IEEE 32bit float
Coordinate Reference System(CRS) WGS84 - as ArcSeconds
3.3 Coordinates considerations

RV Keary data which has been converted from .jsf to SEG-Y format are in WGS84 (arc seconds). To
view this correctly in WGS84 - EPSG 4326 (as decimal degrees); the values need to be divided by
3600 (converting from arc seconds to degrees) – the result will then need to be divided/multiplied
by the scalar value stored in bytes 71-72.
3.4 RV Keary known data issues

It has not been possible to interface heave readings with the system used on the RV Keary – readings
are not heave corrected.
By default, the data stored in JSF files is very raw, with no signal enhancement. Data in these files
generally benefits from a high-pass filter. Applying a linear gain from the seabed is also required.
Data acquired by the CHIRP system installed on the RV Keary is stored as a unipolar ‘envelope’ signal
(rather than as a bipolar response signal, as common). Some frequency filter designs will generate a
lot of ‘ringing’/artifacts when applied to data of this nature.
If the frequency filters available do not provide good results, the below approach may work:
1) Design a wavelet of appropriate frequency content / sample rate / phase characteristics.
2) Convolve this with the unipolar seismic data – generating a bipolar output.
3) Frequency filter as needed.
4) Continue with bipolar data or use an envelope function to convert back to unipolar.
5) Attention needs to be given that the convolution and wavelet phase don’t shift the time
of signal.

Please note that the high-resolution nature of data acquired, the depth of sonar mount and vessel
characteristics of the RV Keary has led to a visible source/receiver ghost on much of the data
acquired. The visual impact of this can be reduced with the high-pass filter and predictive
deconvolution.
Figure 5 – An example of RV Keary data profile showing source/receiver ghost and impact of heave on data.
.

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INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler

Data User Guide

Prepared By Date Comment

INFOMAR Data Management Steering Group (Peter Heath, Charise

MI (Fabio Sacchetti) Jan 2021

Ver. No. Ver. Date Comment By

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide ii

1 Sub Bottom Profiler (SBP) data overview ................................................................. 4

1.1 Data availability ......................................................................................................4

1.2 Data formats available ...........................................................................................4

2 Celtic Explorer and Celtic Voyager ............................................................................ 5

2.2 SEG-Y formatting details ........................................................................................5

2.3 Coordinates considerations ...................................................................................5

2.4 CV and CE known data issues.................................................................................5

3.1 RV Keary data overview .........................................................................................8

3.2 SEG-Y formatting details ........................................................................................8

3.3 Coordinates considerations ...................................................................................8

3.4 RV Keary known data issues...................................................................................8

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide iii

1.1 Data availability

1.2 Data formats available

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 4

2.2 SEG-Y formatting details

Celtic Explorer and Celtic Voyager SEG-Y formatting details

2.3 Coordinates considerations

2.4 CV and CE known data issues

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 5

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 6

Figure 4 - Example of a band pass filter

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 7

3.1 RV Keary data overview

3.2 SEG-Y formatting details

Keary SEG-Y formatting details

3.3 Coordinates considerations

3.4 RV Keary known data issues

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 8

INFOMAR Sub Bottom Profiler Data User Guide 9

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