In 1995, the USGS, in cooperation with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, began a program designed to generate reconnaissance maps of the sea floor offshore of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, one of the most populated coastal regions within the United States. The goal of this mapping program is to provide a regional synthesis of the sea-floor environment, including a description of sedimentary environments, sediment texture, sea-floor morphology, geologic history, and the geometry and structure of the Quaternary strata. This mapping effort differs from previous studies of these area by obtaining digital, sidescan-sonar images that cover 100 percent of the sea floor. The sidescan-sonar data were digitally mosaicked to provide a base suitable for use in the geographic information system (GIS) of the New York Bight region.