Preparing the sonar

USGS scientists Bill Danforth (standing, left) and Chuck Worley (crouching on deck) deploy a swath bathymetric sonar from the bow of the research vessel (R/V) Raphael, a boat from the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center used for seafloor mapping and sediment sampling, docked at Dillon's Creek Marina in Island Heights, New Jersey. Danforth led a tour of the vessel and its scientific equipment for local news reporters and visitors from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the USGS New Jersey Water Science Center during the first survey in November 2011.