Description: The benthic habitats thematic layer is mapped from a series of 450 aerial
photographs. Ecologists outlined the boundaries of specific habitat types
by interpreting color patterns on the photographs. Benthic habitats were
classified into four major categories: corals, seagrasses, hardbottom, and
bare substrate, and 24 subcategories, such as sparse seagrass and patch reef.
Habitat boundaries were georeferenced and digitized to create computer maps.
Description: The benthic habitats thematic layer is mapped from a series of 450 aerial
photographs. Ecologists outlined the boundaries of specific habitat types
by interpreting color patterns on the photographs. Benthic habitats were
classified into four major categories: corals, seagrasses, hardbottom, and
bare substrate, and 24 subcategories, such as sparse seagrass and patch reef.
Habitat boundaries were georeferenced and digitized to create computer maps.
Value: Continuous Seagrass - Dense Patches in a Matrix of Sparse Seagrass (<50%) Label: Continuous Seagrass - Dense Patches in a Matrix of Sparse Seagrass (<50%) Description: N/A Symbol:
Value: Patchy Seagrass - Dense Patches in a Matrix of Hardbottom Label: Patchy Seagrass - Dense Patches in a Matrix of Hardbottom Description: N/A Symbol:
Description: This benthic mapping activity was conducted to inventory the reef ecosystem and associated bottom types for the US Virgin Islands. Prior to this project, a comprehensive inventory of the shallow water ecosystems in these areas did not exist. Such an inventory is required for successful management. To meet this need, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Biogeography Branch, in consultation with many local and federal partners conducted a GIS based mapping effort in the region. This represents the first US coral reef area to be mapped under the purview of the US Coral Reef Task Force. The classification scheme defines benthic communities on the basis of two attributes: large geographic “zones” which are composed of smaller “habitats”.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-puerto-rico-virgin-islands/
Description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service acquired aerial photographs for the nearshore waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1999.
Description: Twenty-six distinct and non-overlapping habitat types were identified that could be mapped by visual photointerpretation. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. Habitat refers only to each benthic community’s substrate and/or cover type and does not address location.
Description: Nine mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: land, shoreline/intertidal, lagoon, back reef, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, and dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology). Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or cover types within.
Description: This benthic mapping activity was conducted to inventory the reef ecosystem and associated bottom types for Puerto Rico. Prior to this project, a comprehensive inventory of the shallow water ecosystems in these areas did not exist. Such an inventory is required for successful management. To meet this need, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Biogeography Branch, in consultation with many local and federal partners conducted a GIS based mapping effort in the region. This represents the first US coral reef area to be mapped under the purview of the US Coral Reef Task Force. The classification scheme defines benthic communities on the basis of two attributes: large geographic “zones” which are composed of smaller “habitats”.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-puerto-rico-virgin-islands/
Description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service acquired aerial photographs for the nearshore waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1999.
Description: Twenty-six distinct and non-overlapping habitat types were identified that could be mapped by visual photointerpretation. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. Habitat refers only to each benthic community’s substrate and/or cover type and does not address location.
Description: Nine mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: land, shoreline/intertidal, lagoon, back reef, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, and dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology). Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or cover types within.
Description: NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) and National Geodetic Survey (NGS) have acquired color aerial photography, hyperspectral imagery (HSI) and IKONOS satellite imagery for the near shore waters of portions of the eight Main Hawaiian Islands. The images are being used to create maps of the region’s marine resources including coral reefs and other important habitats for fisheries, tourism and aspects of the coastal economy. The classification scheme defines benthic communities on the basis of two attributes: large geographic “zones” which are composed of smaller “habitats”.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-main-hawaiian-islands/
Description: Twenty-seven distinct and non-overlapping habitat types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of remotely collected imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Habitat refers only to each benthic community's substrate and/or cover type and does not address location on the shelf. Habitats are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four broad classes (unconsolidated sediment, submerged vegetation, coral reef and hardbottom, and other), to more detailed categories (e.g., emergent vegetation, seagrass, algae, individual patch reefs, uncolonized volcanic rock), to patchiness of some specific features (e.g., 50-90% cover of macroalgae).
Description: Eleven mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: land, vertical wall, shoreline intertidal, lagoon, reef flat, back reef, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, and dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology). Zone refers only to each benthic community's location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the University of Hawaii, BAE Systems Spectral Solutions and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLC. The goal of the work was to map the coral reef habitats of American Samoa, Guam and the Common Wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by visual interpretation and manual delineation of IKONOS satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was tested and implemented in this work. It integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. It also includes thirteen zones. Benthic features were mapped that covered an area of 71.5 square kilometers of which 10.56 were unconsolidated sediment and 60.94 were coral reef and hard bottom. Of the coral reef and hard bottom class, 62.8% is colonized by greater than 10% coral cover.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-american-samoa-guam-commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands/
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to predominate biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominate cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous).
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical structural composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to thirteen detailed classes (sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall, lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Name: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (2005)
Display Field:
Type: Group Layer
Geometry Type: null
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the University of Hawaii, BAE Systems Spectral Solutions and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLC. The goal of the work was to map the coral reef habitats of American Samoa, Guam and the Common Wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by visual interpretation and manual delineation of IKONOS satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was tested and implemented in this work. It integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. It also includes thirteen zones. Benthic features were mapped that covered an area of 45.2 square kilometers of which 4.4 were unconsolidated sediment and 40.9 were coral reef and hard bottom. Of the coral reef and hard bottom class, 59.9% is colonized by greater than 10% coral cover.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-american-samoa-guam-commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands/
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to predominate biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominate cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous).
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical structural composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to thirteen detailed classes (sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall, lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the University of Hawaii, BAE Systems Spectral Solutions and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLC. The goal of the work was to map the coral reef habitats of American Samoa, Guam and the Common Wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by visual interpretation and manual delineation of IKONOS satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was tested and implemented in this work. It integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. It also includes thirteen zones. Benthic features were mapped that covered an area of 104 square kilometers of which 32.9 were unconsolidated sediment and 71.6 were coral reef and hard bottom. Of the coral reef and hard bottom class, 35.6% is colonized by greater than 10% coral cover.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-american-samoa-guam-commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands/
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to predominate biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominate cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous).
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical structural composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to thirteen detailed classes (sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall, lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the University of Hawaii, BAE Systems Spectral Solutions and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLC. The goal of the work was to map the coral reef habitats of the Main Eight Hawaiian Islands by visual interpretation and manual delineation of IKONOS and Quick Bird satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was tested and implemented in this work. It integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. It also includes fourteen zones.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-main-hawaiian-islands/
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to predominate biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominate cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous).
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical structural composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to thirteen detailed classes (sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall, lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community's location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the University of Hawaii, and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLC. The goal of the work was to map the coral reef habitats of Palau by visual interpretation and manual delineation of IKONOS satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was used in this work. The scheme integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. It also includes thirteen zones.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-palau/
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to predominate biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominate cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous).
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that could be mapped by visual interpretation of the IKONOS imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical structural composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to fourteen detailed classes (sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall, lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community's location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: Through the implementation of a multi-year Interagency Agreement, NOAA’s Biogeography Branch mapped 53.4 km2 of shallow-water habitats around St. John and 90.2 km2 of moderate-depth habitats south of St. John for the Department of Interior (DOI), National Park Service (NPS), Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M).
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-st-john-u-s-virgin-islands-national-park-reef-national-monument/
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, and Zone fields.
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover classes were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. Cover classes refer only to the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and do not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon) or structure type. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (Algae, Seagrass, Live Coral, Mangrove,
Coralline Algae, No Cover, Unclassified and Unknown), combined with a modifier describing the distribution of the dominant cover type throughout the polygon (10%<50%, 50%-<90%, and 90%-100%).
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were identified that can be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier used to maintain information on the percent cover of live coral, both scleractinian and octocorals, even when it is not the dominant cover type. In order to provide resource managers with additional information on this cover type of critical concern, four range classes were used (0% - <10%, 10% - <50%, 50% - <90%, and 90% - 100%). Hardbottom features are classified into these range classes based on the amount of combined scleractinian and octocoral present in a polygon. Distinction of scleractinian coral versus octocoral was limited by the current state of remote sensing technology and could not be separated in the Live Coral Cover modifier.
Description: Sixteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified that can be mapped by visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU are not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are often too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominant physical composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, Other Delineations, and Unknown), to sixteen detailed classes (Rock Outcrop, Boulder, Spur and Groove, Individual Patch Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Aggregate Reef, Reef Rubble, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Rhodoliths, Sand, Mud, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial, Land, and Unknown).
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones can be identified from shore to shelf edge corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: Land, Salt Pond, Shoreline Intertidal, Reef Flat, Lagoon, Back Reef, Reef Crest, Fore Reef, Bank/Shelf, Bank/Shelf Escarpment, Channel, Dredged, and Unknown.Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or biological cover types that are found within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, or reef rubble; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it at this level in the scheme.
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, and Zone fields.
Description: Five distinct and non-overlapping biological cover classes were mapped using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation of acoustic imagery. Cover classes refer to the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the habitat feature, and does not address its location (e.g., on the Bank/Shelf). Habitats features that covered areas smaller than the MMU (1,000 m2) were not mapped independently. Biological cover types were grouped into five major classes (i.e., Algae, Seagrass, Live Coral, No Cover and Unknown), and were combined with a modifier describing the density and distribution of the dominant cover type within the habitat feature (i.e., 10%-<50%, 50%-<90%, and 90%-100%).
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were mapped using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation of acoustic imagery. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier used to denote information about the percent cover of live coral (both scleractinian and octocorals), when it was not the dominant cover type. In order to provide resource managers with additional information about corals, four range classes were used (0% - <10%, 10% - <50%, 50% - <90%, and 90% - 100%).
Description: Thirteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were mapped using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation of acoustic imagery. Geomorphological structure refers to a habitat feature’s dominate physical composition and does not address its location (e.g., on the Bank/Shelf). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from three major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, and Unknown), to ten detailed classes (Individual Patch Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Aggregate Reef, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Rhodoliths, Rhodoliths with Scattered Coral and Rock, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock and Unknown). Habitat features with areas smaller than the map’s minimum mapping unit or MMU (1,000 m2) were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding individual patch reefs were often too small to be mapped independently.
Description: One geographic zone (i.e., Bank/Shelf) was identified in the moderate-depth area, corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology.Zone only refers to the location of a benthic habitat feature and does not address the habitat feature’s substrate or biological cover types. For example, the Bank/Shelf zone may include patch reefs and pavement; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the Bank/Shelf zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science collaborated with NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and other local and regional experts to conduct a characterization of the marine ecosystem around Vieques Island, Puerto Rico in support of research, monitoring, and management, as well as restoration and cleanup efforts.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/ecological-characterization-marine-resources-vieques-puerto-rico/
Description: Benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of Vieques, Puerto Rico were created by visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment - Biogeography Branch in partnership with NOAA's Offic of Response and Restoration, was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of Vieques' coral reef ecosystem.
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, Percent Hardbottom, and Zone fields.
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover classes were identified that can be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery. Cover classes refer only to the biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address zone or structure type. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from seven major classes (Algae, Seagrass, Live Coral, Mangrove, Coralline Algae, No Cover, Unclassified and Unknown), combined with a modifier describing the distribution of the dominant cover type throughout the mapping unit (10%-<50%, 50%-<90%, 90%- 100%).
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were identified that can be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery and ground-truthing. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier used to maintain information on the percent cover of live coral, both scleractinian and octocorals, even when it is not the dominant cover type. In order to provide resource managers with additional information on this cover type of critical concern, four range classes were used (0% - <10%, 10% - <50%, 50% - <90%, 90% - 100%). Distinction of scleractinian coral versus octocoral (i.e., hard versus soft coral) was limited by the current state of remote sensing technology and could not be separated in the Live Coral Cover modifier.
Description: Fifteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphologic structure types were described that can be mapped by visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are often too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging
from four major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, Other Delineations, and Unknown), to fifteen detailed classes (Rock/Boulder, Spur and Groove, Individual Patch Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Aggregate Reef, Reef Rubble, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Rhodoliths, Sand, Mud, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial, Land, and Unknown).
Description: An additional modifier was attributed to all polygons (except Land) to describe the percentage of hardbottom within that polygon. Several of the detailed structure types are heterogeneous in nature (e.g., Aggregated Patch Reefs, Pavement w/ Sand Channels, Spur and Groove), and the purpose of this modifier was to provide additional information about these structure types. It is expected that this will be useful in field survey planning when knowledge of the likelihood of encountering reef/hardbottom in an area is desired, or in estimating the actual amount of hardbottom in a polygon or mapped area.
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones can be identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: Land, Salt Pond, Shoreline Intertidal, Reef Flat, Lagoon, Back Reef, Reef Crest, Fore Reef, Bank/Shelf, Bank/Shelf Escarpment, Channel, Dredged, and Unknown. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or biological cover types that are found within. For example, the Lagoon zone may include patch reefs and reef rubble; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: Shallow-water (<30m) benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico were mapped and characterized using visual interpretation of optical and acoustic remotely sensed imagery. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Biogeography Branch in partnership with NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of Jobos Bay's coral reef ecosystem.
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/baseline-assessment-contaminants-ecological-resources-jobos-bay-puerto-rico/
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, Percent Hardbottom, and Zone fields.
Description: Ten unique (i.e., major plus detailed) biological cover classes were mapped by visually interpreting aerial photos and acoustic imagery. Biological cover denotes the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature. It does not describe the location (e.g., on the Bank/Shelf or in a Lagoon) or structure (e.g., Sand) of the feature. Habitat features smaller than the 1000 m2 were not considered. Four major cover types were identified from the source imagery (i.e., Algae, Seagrass, Mangrove, and No Cover) and combined with three modifiers describing the distribution of the dominant cover within the polygon (i.e.,10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "Unclassified" denotes that the dominant biological cover type for an area is not included in this habitat classification scheme (e.g., deciduous forest). "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or acoustic imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were mapped by visually interpreting aerial photos and acoustic imagery. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier denoting the abundance live coral (both scleractinian and octocorals), even when it was not the dominant cover type within a polygon. Four range classes were used (i.e., 0%-10%, 10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "N/A" denotes that an estimate of percent cover is not appropriate for this particular major biological cover class (e.g., for Land). "Unknown" indicates that the live coral cover was not classified because the structure and/or biological cover types were unknown.
Description: Twelve distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were mapped by visually interpreting aerial photos and acoustic imagery. Geomorphological structure refers to a feature’s dominant physical composition and does not address geographic location (e.g., in a Lagoon). Structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from three major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, and Other Delineations), to fifteen detailed classes (Aggregate Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Individual Patch Reef, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Rock/ Boulder, Spur and Groove, Mud, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial and Land). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (1000 m2) were not considered. "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or acoustic imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Six unique and non-overlapping percent hardbottom classes were mapped by visually interpreting aerial photos and acoustic imagery. Percent hardbottom refers to the amount (i.e., patchiness) of hardbottom habitat within a habitat polygon. It does not describe the type of hardbottom that is located within a polygon. Six range classes were used (i.e., 0%-10%, 10%-30%, 30%-50%, 50%-70%, 70%-90% and 90%-100%). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (1000 m2) were not considered. "Unclassified" denotes that an estimate of percent hardbottom is not appropriate for this particular structure class (e.g., for Land polygons). "Unknown" indicates that the amount of hardbottom was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or acoustic imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Ten distinct and non-overlapping geographic zone types were mapped by visually interpreting aerial photos and acoustic imagery. Zone refers to each benthic community’s geographic location. It does not address a polygon’s substrate or biological cover types. For example, the zone Fore Reef is often located adjacent to a reef crest on the seaward side. However, neither Fore Reef nor Reef Crest zone types describe the structural or biological habitat within them. Additionally, the location of particular zone types may change depending on whether the system is a barrier reef, fringing reef or when no emergent reef crest is present. Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (1,000 m2) were not considered.
Description: This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, The Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii, Inc. The greater goal of the work was to incorporate previously developed mapping methods to produce benthic habitat maps of Palmyra Atoll. These products are generated by photo visual interpretation and manual delineation of georeferenced IKONOS and Quickbird 2 satellite imagery. A two tiered habitat classification system was used in this work. The scheme integrates geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover into a single scheme and subsets each into detail. The biological cover attribute is based on dominant biological cover. A separate field identifies the extent of coral cover. It also includes thirteen geographic zones.
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-palmyra-atoll/
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, and Zone fields.
Description: Eighteen biological cover classes were identified that could be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. Cover classes refer only to the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and do not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon) or structure type. The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (Algae, Seagrass, Live Coral, Mangrove, Coralline Algae, No Cover, Unclassified and Unknown), combined with a modifier describing the distribution of the dominant cover type throughout the polygon (10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%).
Description: The estimated live coral cover is made in the final process of attributing a polygon independent of other live cover types. It is important to remember that both soft and hard coral contribute to this class.
Description: The major geomorphologic coral reef and hard bottom classes includes areas of both shallow and deep-water seafloor with solid substrates including Rock Outcrop, Boulder, Spur and Groove, Individual Patch Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Aggregate Reef, Reef Rubble, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, and Rhodoliths.
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones can be identified from shore to shelf edge corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: Land, Salt Pond, Shoreline Intertidal, Reef Flat, Lagoon, Back Reef, Reef Crest, Fore Reef, Bank/Shelf, Bank/Shelf Escarpment, Channel, Dredged, and Unknown. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or biological cover types that are found within.
Description: NOAA developed benthic habitat maps for the Buck Island Reef National Monument, north of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bathymetry (depth) data we collected was used to update nautical charts in the area, and the related habitat maps we developed are being used by local managers to plan research projects and site-related infrastructure inside the monument, such as placing receivers for the acoustic tracking of fish and sea turtles.
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-buck-island-reef-national-monument-st-croix/
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, Percent Hardbottom, and Zone fields.
Description: Nine unique (i.e., major plus detailed) biological cover classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery, and four types of acoustic imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Biological cover denotes the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature. It does not describe the location (e.g., on the Bank/Shelf or in a Lagoon) or structure (e.g., Sand) of the feature. Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit were not considered (i.e.,100 m2 in 0-50 m depths, 1,000 m2 in 50-1,000 m depths and 5,000 m2 in 1,000-1,830 m depths). Four major cover types were identified from the source imagery (i.e., Algae, Seagrass, Mangrove and No Cover) and combined with three modifiers describing the distribution of the dominant cover within the polygon (i.e.,10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos, LiDAR or acoustic imagery due interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery, and four types of acoustic imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier denoting the abundance live coral (both scleractinian and octocorals), even when it was not the dominant cover type within a polygon. Four range classes were used (i.e., 0%-10%, 10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "N/A" denotes that an estimate of percent cover is not appropriate for this particular major biological cover class (e.g., for Land). "Unknown" indicates that the live coral cover was not classified because the structure and/or biological cover types were unknown.
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery, and four types of acoustic imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Geomorphological structure refers to a feature’s dominant physical composition and does not address geographic location (e.g., in a Lagoon). Structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from three major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, and Other Delineations), to fourteen detailed classes (Aggregate Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Individual Patch Reef, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Reef Rubble, Rock/ Boulder, Mud, Rhodoliths, Rhodoliths with Scattered Coral and Rock, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial and Land). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit were not considered (i.e.,100 m2 in 0-50 m depths, 1,000 m2 in 50-1,000 m depths and 5,000 m2 in 1,000-1,830 m depths). "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos, LiDAR or acoustic imagery due interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Six unique and non-overlapping percent hardbottom classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery, and four types of acoustic imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Percent hardbottom refers to the amount (i.e., patchiness) of hardbottom habitat within a habitat polygon. It does not describe the type of hardbottom that is located within a polygon. Six range classes were used (i.e., 0%-10%, 10%-30%, 30%-50%, 50%-70%, 70%-90% and 90%-100%). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit were not considered (i.e.,100 m2 in 0-50 m depths, 1,000 m2 in 50-1,000 m depths and 5,000 m2 in 1,000-1,830 m depths). "Unclassified" denotes that an estimate of percent hardbottom is not appropriate for this particular structure class (e.g., for Land polygons). "Unknown" indicates that the amount of hardbottom was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos, acoustic imagery or LiDAR imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Eleven distinct and non-overlapping geographic zone types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery, and four types of acoustic imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Zone refers to each benthic community’s geographic location. It does not address a polygon’s substrate or biological cover types. For example, the zone Fore Reef is often located adjacent to a reef crest on the seaward side. However, neither Fore Reef nor Reef Crest zone types describe the structural or biological habitat within them. Additionally, the location of particular zone types may change depending on whether the system is a barrier reef, fringing reef or when no emergent reef crest is present. Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit were not considered (i.e.,100 m2 in 0-50 m depths, 1,000 m2 in 50-1,000 m depths and 5,000 m2 in 1,000-1,830 m depths).
Description: This product provides a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of marine habitats of Majuro. The work provides local scientisits and managers with increased technical capacity for ocean exploration, management, and stewardship. Direct applications to management include evaluation of management efficacy, a spatial framework for improved monitoring and sampling design, improved assessment of human-use impacts, and marine spatial planning to support consideration of marine protected area boundary alternatives.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-majuro-republic-marshall-islands/
Description: Seven classes were used to denote the approximate proportion of each polygon occupied by hard bottom substrate. A polygon encompassing several patch reefs that were too small to be delineated individually is actually comprised of some area of patch reefs and some background structure such as sand. This category includes both “living” hard bottom such as patch reefs, as well as “abiotic” features such as pavement and rock/boulder. This attribute can be used to estimate the combined amount of coral reef and hard bottom around the island based on the area of each polygon.
Description: Fourteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphologic structures could be mapped by visual interpretation of satellite imagery. Structure refers only to predominant physical composition of the feature and does not address location (see Zone for shore to shelf edge location). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Substrate, Other Delineations, and Unknown), to fifteen detailed classes.
Description: Eleven mutually exclusive zones were identified, from land to deep ocean, corresponding to typical atoll geomorphology. These zones included: Land, Shoreline Intertidal, Reef Flat, Lagoon, Back Reef, Fore Reef, Bank/Shelf, Bank/Shelf Escarpment, Channel, Pinnacle, Dredged/Excavated, and Unknown. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or structure types that are found within. For example, the Lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and reef rubble; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.
Description: Shallow-water (<30m) benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of two areas in Southwest Puerto Rico (PR), including the Guanica Bay/La Parguera region on the south coast and the Belvedere reserve on the west coast, were mapped and characterized using visual interpretation of optical and acoustic remotely sensed imagery. The objective was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of the region’s coral reef ecosystem. These maps will be used to support marine resource management and conservation in the Commonwealth. In addition, the maps will enable change detection in an assessment of the effectiveness of restoration activities on the condition of adjacent coral reef ecosystems.
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-off-southwest-puerto-rico/
Description: The study area of the project is the shallow-water (<30m) marine environments of the Guánica/Parguera and Finca Belvedere Natural Reserve in southwest Puerto Rico.
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Live Coral Cover, Structure, Percent Hardbottom, and Zone fields.
Description: Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover classes were identified that can be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery. Cover classes refer only to the biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address zone or structure type. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. The cover types are efined as seven major classes (Algae, Seagrass, Live Coral, Mangrove, No Cover, Unclassified and Unknown), combined with a modifier describing the distribution of the dominant cover type throughout the mapping unit (10%-50%, 50%-<90%, 90%-100%).
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were identified that can be mapped through visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery and ground-truthing. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier used to maintain information on the percent cover of live coral, both scleractinian and octocorals, even when it is not the dominant cover type. In order to provide esource managers with additional information on this cover type of critical concern, four range classes were used (0% - <10%, 10% - <50%, 50% - <90%, 90% - 100%).
Description: Fifteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphologic structure types were described that can be mapped by visual interpretation of remotely-sensed imagery. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the MMU were not considered. For example, sand halos surrounding patch reefs are often too small to be mapped independently. Structure refers only to predominate physical composition of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, Other Delineations and Unknown), to 15 detailed classes (Rock/Boulder, Spur and Groove, Individual Patch Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Aggregate Reef, Reef Rubble, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Rhodoliths, Sand, Mud, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial, Land and Unknown).
Description: An additional modifier was attributed to all polygons (except Land) to describe the percentage of hardbottom within that polygon. Several of the detailed structure types are heterogeneous in nature (e.g., Aggregated Patch Reefs, Pavement w/ Sand Channels, Spur and Groove), and the purpose of this modifier was to provide additional information about these structure types. It is expected that this will be useful in field survey planning when knowledge of the likelihood of encountering reef/hardbottom in an area is desired, or in estimating the actual amount of hardbottom in a polygon or mapped area.
Description: Thirteen mutually exclusive zones can be identified from shore to shelf edge corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: Land, Salt Pond, Shoreline Intertidal, Reef Flat, Lagoon, Back Reef, Reef Crest, Fore Reef, Bank/Shelf, Bank/Shelf Escarpment, Channel, Dredged, and Unknown. Zone refers only to each benthic community’s location and does not address substrate or biological cover types that are found within.
Name: St. Croix USVI, STEER/Fish Bay/Coral Bay (2013)
Display Field:
Type: Group Layer
Geometry Type: null
Description: This dataset contains information about the shallow-water (<40 meters) geology and biology of the seafloor in Coral Bay, St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). It was created by manually delineating and classifying habitats visible in a 0.3x0.3 meter aerial photograph mosaic, and by using edge detection algorithms and boosted regression trees to automatically delineate and classify habitat features visible in 0.3x0.3 meter LiDAR surfaces. Habitat features less than 100 square meters were not delineated from the orthomosaic, and were removed from habitat polygons derived from the LiDAR surfaces using ET Geowizards ArcGIS extension. Manually delineated habitat polygons were digitized at a scale of 1:1,000. Habitat polygon boundaries derived from the LiDAR surfaces were smoothed in ArcGIS to more closely match the 1:1,000 scale used for manual digitizing. Georeferenced underwater video & photos were used to train the analyst and algorithm to classify the major and detailed geomorphological structure, percent hard bottom, major and detailed biological cover and live coral cover for each polygon. The thematic accuracy of the map was assessed qualitatively by local experts and quantitatively using randomly sampled locations stratified by detailed geomorpholoigcal structure type. Thematic accuracies for major and detailed geomorphological structure, percent hardbottom, major and detailed biological cover, live coral cover and dominant coral type were: 93.0%, 75.1%, 86.2%, 86.5%, 74.5%, 83.3% and 88.2%, respectively. These thematic accuracies are similar to the thematic accuracies reported for other NOAA benthic habitat mapping efforts around Buck Island in St. Croix (>81.4%), in St. John (>80%), in the Main Eight Hawaiian Islands (>84.0%) and in the Republic of Palau (>80.0%).
For more information, visit the project website at https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/habitat-mapping-us-virgin-islands/
Description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collected imagery of the nearshore, marine areas (0-40 meters deep) around St. John and north of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
These areas included the marine areas in and around:
• Coral Bay
(from Cabritte Horn Point east to the Flanagan Passage, and Brown Bay south to Ram Head)
• Fish Bay
(from Dittlif Point east to Reef Bay, and the inner bay south to the 30 meter depth contour)
• The St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER)
(from Long Point east to Pillsbury Sound, and Red Hook Point south to Buck Island National Wildlife Refuge)
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Dominant Coral Type, Percent Hardbottom, Live Coral Cover, Structure, and Zone fields.
Description: Twelve unique (i.e., major plus detailed) biological cover classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Biological cover denotes the dominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature. It does not describe the location (e.g., on the Bank/Shelf or in a Lagoon) or structure (e.g., Sand) of the feature. Habitat features smaller than the 100 m2 were not considered. Five major cover types were identified from the source imagery (i.e., Algae, Live Coral, Seagrass, Mangrove, and No Cover) and combined with three modifiers describing the distribution of the dominant cover within the polygon (i.e.,10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "Unclassified" denotes that the dominant biological cover type for an area is not included in this habitat classification scheme (e.g., deciduous forest). "Unknown" indicates that the biological cover was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or LiDAR imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Hard or soft coral dominance was classified when live coral cover was estimated to be >10%. Hard/soft coral dominance was mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. This class was experimental, and was included in this mapping effort to provide resource managers with additional information about corals. “N/A" denotes that live coral cover was 0% -<10%, is not appropriate for this particular major biological cover class (e.g., for Land). "Unknown" indicates that the dominant coral cover type was not classified because the structure and/or biological cover types were unknown.
Description: Six unique and non-overlapping percent hardbottom classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Percent hardbottom refers to the amount (i.e., patchiness) of hardbottom habitat within a habitat polygon. It does not describe the type of hardbottom that is located within a polygon. Six range classes were used (i.e., 0% -10%, 10%-30%, 30%-50%, 50%-70%, 70%-90% and 90%-100%). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (100 m2) were not considered. "Unclassified" denotes that an estimate of percent hardbottom is not appropriate for this particular structure class (e.g., for Land polygons). "Unknown" indicates that the amount of hardbottom was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or LiDAR imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. This attribute is an additional biological cover modifier denoting the abundance live coral (both scleractinian and octocorals), even when it was not the dominant cover type within a polygon. Four range classes were used (i.e., 0%-10%, 10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). "N/A" denotes that an estimate of percent cover is not appropriate for this particular major biological cover class (e.g., for Land). "Unknown" indicates that the live coral cover was not classified because the structure and/or biological cover types were unknown.
Description: Fifteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Geomorphological structure refers to a feature’s dominant physical composition and does not address geographic location (e.g., in a Lagoon). Structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from three major classes (Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediment, and Other Delineations), to fifteen detailed classes (Aggregate Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Individual Patch Reef, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Reef Rubble, Rock/ Boulder, Spur and Groove, Mud, Rhodoliths, Rhodoliths with Scattered Coral and Rock, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial, and Land). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (100 m2) were not considered. "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or LiDAR imagery due interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Ten distinct and non-overlapping geographic zone types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. Zone refers to each benthic community’s geographic location. It does not address a polygon’s substrate or biological cover types. For example, the zone Fore Reef is often located adjacent to a reef crest on the seaward side. However, neither Fore Reef nor Reef Crest zone types describe the structural or biological habitat within them. Additionally, the location of particular zone types may change depending on whether the system is a barrier reef, fringing reef or when no emergent reef crest is present. Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (100 m2) were not considered.
Name: Northeast Ecological Corridor Reserve, Puerto Rico (2014)
Display Field:
Type: Group Layer
Geometry Type: null
Description: This benthic habitat map was created from a semi-automated feature classification process of geostatistical bathymetry models, satellite imagery, and a principle component analysis of the 0-30m waters of the Northeast Ecological Reserve, Puerto Rico. The area of interest includes the nearshore waters of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. The benthic habitat map is classified based on 1) geomorphological structure, 2) hard bottom cover, 3) topographic complexity, 4) dominant biological cover, and 5) live coral cover. Underwater photo and video data was collected for the ground validation and the accuracy assessment of the map to correct any bias from the remote sensing and geostatistical modeling, and analyzed for biological and ecological data of the NER not attainable from the imagery. Habitat features are described by varying levels of detail (i.e., major and minor categories nested within them), so users can depict the habitat information that best suits their research or management needs.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-northeast-puerto-rico-culebra/
Description: This shapefile denotes the boundaries of the Northeast Puerto Rico (NEPR) Benthic Habitat Map. The NER includes the nearshore waters of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. This map will be used to help the Puerto Rican government and Department of Natural and Environmental Resource managers make informed planning decisions on the expansion of the Northeast Ecological Reserve (NER).
Description: This dataset denotes the polygons of the classified benthic habitat map of Northeast Puerto Rico by the Biogeography Branch. These polygons contain information on the major structure, detailed structure, % hardbottom, topographic complexity, biological cover, % coral cover, and the dominant coral type. These polygons were delineated from a principle component analysis derived from a suite of remotely sensed imagery and analyzing a feature extraction tool. Once the polygons were created, they were classified by a semi-automatic, rule based algorithm and corrected from randomly selected habitat ground validation and accuracy assessment videos.
Description: The benthic habitat map created by the Biogeography Branch was classified into major and detailed geomorphological structure classes. Major Structure refers to a feature's dominant physical composition. The Major Structure class is classified as Coral Reef and Hardbottom, Unconsolidated Sediments, Other Delineations (land or man-made features) or Unknown. This information was determined by analyzing remotely sensed imagery and underwater videos.
Description: The benthic habitat map created by the Biogeography Branch was classified into the major and detailed geomorphological structure classes. Detailed Structure refers to thirteen detailed classes: Aggregate Reef, Aggregated Patch Reefs, Individual Patch Reef, Pavement, Pavement with Sand Channels, Reef Rubble, Rhodoliths, Rhodoliths with Scattered Coral & Rock, Rock/Boulder, Spur & Groove, Mud, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral & Rock, Artificial, Land, and Unknown. This information was determined by analyzing remotely sensed imagery and underwater videos.
Description: Percent Hardbottom refers to the amount (i.e., patchiness) of hardbottom structure within a habitat polygon. Polygons with discontinuous cover of hard bottom with areas of interspersed unconsolidated sediments that were too small to be mapped as a different feature (i.e., smaller than the minimum mapping unit, 100m²) were classified as 0%-10%, 10%-30%, 30%-50%, 50%-70%, and 70%-90% hardbottom. Polygons that were estimated to have continuous cover of hardbottom were classified as 90%-100%, while polygons with less than 10% hardbottom were classified as 0%-10% (unconsolidated sediments). This modifier was determined by estimating the percent hardbottom at the scale of the polygon by analyzing remotely sensed imagery and underwater videos.
Description: Topographic Complexity capture the structural complexity of hardbottom habitats as observed from the underwater videos. This allows for rugosity/complexity measures at a finer scale than the available bathymetric data (resolution 4 -100 meter) supports. The Topographic Complexity category includes a combination of both fine scale structures like individual hard corals and barrel sponges as well as larger scale structures such as walls, mounds and ledges. Only hardbottom structures were accounted for so additional complexity added by soft corals, mangroves, algae and seagrass beds were not included. Softbottom habitats were classified in the very low complexity category. The Topographic Complexity information presented here is best viewed together with available bathymetry derived rugosity layers as they can complement each other. Topographic Complexity was determined by analyzing remotely sensed imagery and underwater videos. This layer is to be considered experimental since this mapping effort is the first time this approach has been tested by the Biogeography Branch.
Description: Biological cover denotes the dominant biological component colonizing the seafloor in a polygon. Habitat features smaller than smaller than the minimum mapping unit (100m²) were not considered. Five major cover types were identified in the project area (i.e., Algae, Mangrove, Seagrass, Live Hard and Soft Corals and No Cover) and combined with three modifiers describing the distribution of the dominant cover within the polygon (i.e., 10%-50%, 50%-90%, and 90%-100%). Areas where biological cover was indistinguishable from the remote sensing imagery were classified as Unknown. It is important to note that this modifier represents a measure of patchiness of the biological cover at the polygon scale. It does not denote the density of organisms seen in the underwater video or photos. For example, a seagrass bed can be described as covering 90%-100% of a given polygon, but may have sparse densities of shoots in the underwater video.
Description: The Percent Live Coral Cover attribute describes the hardbottom area of the seafloor that is colonized by live hard and soft corals, as interpreted from a video camera looking straight down at the sea floor from 1-2 meters height. To get an estimate of total percent coral cover on the scale of the polygon level (i.e., >100m²) in areas with patchy hardbottom cover, the percent coral cover needs to be combined with the percent hardbottom modifier. It is important to note that the percent live coral cover class is different from percent biological cover, which denotes the patchiness of biological cover at the scale of the polygon including both hard and soft bottom.
Description: The dominant coral type was identified for all polygons with more than 10% hardbottom cover and with percent coral cover greater than ~1%. The classes were divided into Hard Coral, Soft Coral, Mixed Hard/Soft corals, No Cover, and Unknown.
Description: The Geographic Zone map created by the Biogeography Branch shows the broader picture of how habitats are created and interconnected geospatially. A zone refers to each benthic community's geographic location and geomorphological structure. The map was classified into 12 geographic zones: Back Reef, Bank/Shelf, Channel, Dredged, Fore Reef, Lagoon, Land, Reef Crest, Reef Flat, Reef Ridge Complex, Salt Pond, and Shoreline Intertidal. The geographic zone map was manually digitized at the 1:6000 scale by analyzing remotely sensed imagery, underwater videos and the already classified habitat map.
Description: The lagoon along the western shore of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) encompasses a diverse coral ecosystem that plays a leading role in attracting nearly half a million tourists annually to the Island for snorkeling, diving, parasailing, kayaking, and use of personal watercraft. The lagoon must also accommodate many other uses such as port operations at Tanapag Harbor and traditional fishing practices that are important to the local culture. To manage this abundance of activity the Government of the CNMI has developed the Saipan Lagoon Use Management Plan (SLUMP). Understanding the present spatial distribution and extent of important lagoon habitats and overlaying the potential human activities taking place within them is an effective means for considering alternative management scenarios, minimizing user conflicts, ensuring public safety, and preventing environmental degradation. The main objective of this project was to produce new, highly detailed maps of the extent and distribution of the bottom features within Saipan Lagoon. The project was based on high resolution WorldView II satellite imagery collected post-Typhoon Soudelor, use of ground validation data from throughout the lagoon, modelling the probability of occurrence of individual substrate and cover types, combining model layers into a classified benthic map, and thematic as well as spatial accuracy-assessment using independent field data. This work was conducted in close partnership with CNMI’s Bureau of Environmental Quality and NOAA’s Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center CNMI Field Office.
These products are freely available for download from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/mapping-habitat-change-saipan-lagoon-cnmi/).
Description: Habitat map depicting substrate and cover types that commonly co-occur in Saipan Lagoon. The overall thematic accuracy for this map is 85.8% (corrected for proportional bias). These habitats were also translated into the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) scheme.
Description: The main objective of this project was to produce new, highly detailed maps of the extent and distribution of the bottom habitat features within the insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). The project was based on high resolution bathymetry, use of ground validation data, modelling the probability of occurrence of individual substrate and cover types, combining model layers into a classified benthic map, and a spatial accuracy assessment using independent field data.
For more information, see https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/habitat-map-insular-shelf-south-of-st-thomas-st-john/
Description: This composite habitat map depicts substrate and cover types that commonly co-occur in the Insular Shelf (Habitat classes include: Rhodoliths with Macroalgae, Bare Sand, Rhodoliths with Macroalgae and Bare Sand, Pavement Colonized with Live Coral, Coral Reef Colonized with Live Coral). The overall thematic accuracy for this map is 85.8% (corrected for proportional bias).
Description: This benthic habitat map depicts substrate and cover types that commonly co-occur in the Kachemak Bay area. (Habitat classes include: Bare Mud, Bare Sand, Sand and Mud with varying percent cover of shell, Shell, Rock, from boulder to pebble).
Description: This portal contains spatial information about the lakebed, including geomorphologic features, substrates and benthic habitats, for Lake Michigan off Wisconsin’s coast.
Description: Lakebed classified by biotope. Biotope describes combinations of abiotic features and associated species that are consistently associated.
Description: Lakebed classified by substrate class. Substrate class describes the composition and particle size of the dominant substrate in surface sediments. It provides a coarser level of detail than descriptions provided by substrate subclass or substrate group.
Description: Lakebed classified by substrate subclass. Substrate subclass describes the composition and particle size of the dominant substrate in surface sediments. It provides a moderate level of detail that is finer than descriptions provided by substrate class and coarser than substrate group.
Description: Lakebed classified by substrate group. Substrate group describes the composition and particle size of the dominant substrate in surface sediments. It provides a finer level of detail than descriptions provided by substrate class or substrate subclass.