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 in Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico. The data contained in this shapefile denote the location of ground validation (GV) sites, which were explored by NOAA field scientists to further refine habitat map classification. In particular, this shapefile includes the location of: (1) the drop camera as it drifted over 155 GV sites (logged by a GPS at five-second intervals); (2) the location of 5 GV sites, which were explored while snorkeling; and (3) 8 GV sites, which were explored using a look bucket.
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 image represents a 4x4 meter resolution bathymetric surface for Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico (in NAD83 UTM 19 North). The depth values are in meters referenced to the NAD83 ellipsoidal heights.
Description: This image represents a 4x4 meter slope surface for Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico (in NAD83 UTM 19 North). Slope was calculated from the bathymetry surface for each raster cell using ArcGIS's Spatial Analyst 'Slope' Tool. Slope describes the maximum steepness of a terrain (in degrees) within a square 3x3 cell neighborhood. The slope GeoTIFF was exported and added as a new map layer to aid in benthic habitat classification.
Description: This image represents a 4x4 meter slope surface for Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico (in NAD83 UTM 19 North). Hillshade was calculated from the bathymetry surface for each raster cell using ArcGIS's Spatial Analyst 'Hillshade' Tool.
Description: This image represents a 1x1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico (in NAD83 UTM 19 North). The backscatter values are in relative 8-bit (0 – 255) numbers, since the SoNAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) sensor was not calibrated. Different benthic habitat types were delineated and classified from this backscatter image.