ERST PRSS. FLORIDA 

 FEB 1990 



1 363000 1 364000 



1 365000 



1 366000 



1 367000 1 36SOOO 



Figure 46. Contoured bathymetry of the same area shown in Figures 44 and 45 



squares, the growth over time was 600 percent. This underscores how criti- 

 cally numerical values such as growth rates depend upon the boundaries of the 

 areas used in the calculations. The user of secondary data beware! 



Error analysis of gridded bathymetry 



A crucial question is how much confidence can a researcher place on 

 growth rates which are based on bathymetric or topographic data? 

 Unfortunately, in the past, many researchers ignored or conveniently over- 

 looked the possibility that error bars may have been greater than calculated 

 trends, particularly if volumetric computations were based on data of question- 

 able quality. 



Chapter 5 Analysis and Interpretation of Coastal Data 



115 



