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This image represents a 1x1 meter principal component (PC) surface for areas inside Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM). This PC surface describes seafloor’s topography and structure, which is important information when characterizing the seafloor. It was ultimately derived from the depth surface collected by NOAA (in 5 to 50 m of water) using a pole-mounted Reson Seabat 8125 multibeam echosounder (MBES). Several metrics were derived from this depth surface, including: (1) mean depth, (2) standard deviation of depth, (3) curvature, (4) plan curvature, (5) profile curvature, (6) rugosity, (7) slope, and (8) slope of slope images. These images were stacked and transformed into their first three principal components using Principal Components Analysis. This transformation removed information that was redundant across the different images. This PC image (along with backscatter) was used to develop a new benthic habitat map for BIRNM in 0 to 50 meters of water. |