Farnsworth Bank

In April 2005 I noticed that the Sea Floor Mapping Lab at CSUMB had updated their data page to include 2m bathymetry data for Farnsworth bank. I immediately set upon creating a map that I could use to better to understand the topography of one of my favorite dive sites. Unless I've overlooked something, my map is the most detailed map of Farnsworth ever made available to the public.

Let's start by taking a look at the publicly available maps for Farnsworth Bank. We'll then move to custom maps made from the CSUMB Sea Floor Mapping Lab Multibeam SONAR data.
	Screen shot of NOAA 18740 Marine Navigation Chart (San Diego to Santa Rosa Island -1989). This shows Catalina Island with respect to Santa Monica Bay, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Los Angeles. The MrSid Version of this Nav Chart may be downloaded by going to following URL and entering "18740" as the chart number. http://historicals.ncd.noaa.gov/historicals/histmap.asp
	Zoomed in screen shot of NOAA 18740 Marine Navigation Chart (San Diego to Santa Rosa Island -1989). Farnsworth is mentioned, but there isn't much detail. The MrSid Version of this Nav Chart may be downloaded by going to following URL and entering "18740" as the chart number. http://historicals.ncd.noaa.gov/historicals/histmap.asp
	Screen shot of NOAA 18757 Marine Navigation Chart (Santa Catalina Island -1987). From all I've found, this is the most detailed NOAA map of Farnsworth. The MrSid Version of this Nav Chart may be downloaded by going to following URL and entering "18757" as the chart number. http://historicals.ncd.noaa.gov/historicals/histmap.asp .
This is the last of the NOAA charts. All images below were created with Manifold GIS and bathymetric data from various sources including California State University Monterey Bay Sea Floor Mapping Lab (CSUMB SFML), California State Lands Commission, the USGS, and others.
	The resolution of the raw data in the main image is 2m meaning that we have a depth measurement every 2 meters on a lat/long grid. I added waypoints for some of the significant pinnacles, walls, and ridges. The numbers on the end of the waypoint names are the depths in feet. An overview map was created by using a 30m digital elevation model of Catalina Island from the California Geographical Survey. Download the 3.75MB PDF Version HERE. It is much clearer and is optimized to print at 11'x17'.
	This is a 3D view looking North. The vertical exaggeration is 2X. The blue 20' contours are shown as is the dotted red 130' contour.
	This is a 3D view looking West from the East End of the bank
	This is a 3D view looking South West
	This is another South West view from a higher elevation

Purple Hydrocoral and a San Diego Dorid at Farnsworth Bank	A wall at Farnsworth at 100fsw Note all the purple hydrocoral	A detail shot of the Purple Hydrocoral and a small colony of corynactys
The top of Farnsworth is at about 57fsw.	Spanish Shawl	Porter's Chromodorid Mexichromis porterae
	A beautiful Tritona Festiva
This is the view of the West end of Catalina Island as we're headed back home. This is off the stern of the boat with the bow pointed back towards Los Angeles

Unfortunately, Farnsworth Bank has claimed the lives of multiple divers. It should be understood that body count alone is not a statistically valid indicator of the dangers of a dive site. These data are simply meant to underscore the fact that Farnsworth is an advanced dive site and people have gotten themselves into serious trouble here.

Please note that this page is very much a work in progress. It's much safer to link to the entire page instead of the map image files as things will be changing regularly over the next few months as I make improvements. Finally, I am not an expert on this topic. I'm simply a diver with an interest in Farnsworth Bank who has spent some time creating maps and compiling information on one of my favorite dive spots. If you have anything interesting to add from expert geological information to fun dive stories or photographs, please contact me so we make this page better. Credit will be given to all who contribute.