St. John Shallow-water Benthic Habitat Map derived from Remotely Sensed Imagery

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
St. John Shallow-water Benthic Habitat Map derived from Remotely Sensed Imagery
Abstract:
Benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands 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 the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of St. John's coral reef ecosystem.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Adam Zitello, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch, 2009, St. John Shallow-water Benthic Habitat Map derived from Remotely Sensed Imagery: NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Silver Spring, MD.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Please use citation for the written document "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" when using these data.
    This is part of the following larger work.

    Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Program, 2009, Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands: NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Zitello, A.G., L.J. Bauer, T.A. Battista, P.W. Mueller and M.S. Kendall. 2009. Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 96. 50 pp.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.844141
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.637303
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.379268
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.288387
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 2007
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • G-Polygon (1940)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 20
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -63.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000
      False_Easting: 500000.000000
      False_Northing: 0.000000
      Planar coordinates are encoded using Coordinate Pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000001
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000001
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters
      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Attribute Table for Benthic Habitat Map of St. John
    Shapefile attribute table (Source: None)
    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI) Coordinates defining the features.
    UniqueID
    A distinct identifier used to define each unique combination of habitat characteristics (Source: NOAA)
    Formal codeset
    Codeset Name:Specific code used for NOAA coral reef habitat maps
    Codeset Source:Described in "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)
    Area
    Calculated feature area (Source: NOAA) Area of feature in square meters.
    Perimeter
    Calculated feature perimeter (Source: NOAA) Length of feature perimeter in meters
    Zone
    Geographic zone (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    Maj_Struct
    Major Geomorphological Structure (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    Det_Struct
    Detailed Geomorphological Structure (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    Maj_Cover
    Major Biological Cover (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    P_Maj_Cov
    Percent Patchiness of Major Biological Cover (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    P_Coral_Cv
    Percent Cover of Live Coral (Source: Refer to Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)) Unknown
    Cover
    Concatenation of Major Biological Cover and Percent Major Biological Cover. Used to describe the combination of major biological cover and its percent patchiness of the feature (Source: NOAA) Unknown
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    Specific details of the attributes and values therein can be found in Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009).
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    Zitello, A.G., L.J. Bauer, T.A. Battista, P.W. Mueller and M.S. Kendall. 2009. Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 96. 50 pp.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Tim Battista
    NOAA National Ocean Service
    Researcher
    1305 East West Highway
    Silver Spring, MD
    USA

    (301) 713-3028 x171 (voice)
    (301) 713-4388 (FAX)
    Tim.Battista@noaa.gov

Why was the data set created?

This product provides a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of marine habitats of St. John. The NOAA effort provides the U.S. National Park Service with increased technical capacity for ocean exploration, management, and stewardship. Direct implications to management measures include evaluation of management efficacy, a spatial framework for improved monitoring sampling design, improved assessment of human-use impacts, and marine spatial planning to support alternative marine protected area boundary alternatives.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (source 1 of 4)
    Zitello, A.G., L.J. Bauer, T.A. Battista, P.W. Mueller and M.S. Kendall, 2009, Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands: NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Silver Spring, MD.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Zitello, A.G., L.J. Bauer, T.A. Battista, P.W. Mueller and M.S. Kendall. 2009. Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 96. 50 pp.
    Type_of_Source_Media: report
    Source_Contribution:
    This section of the report describes the habitat classification scheme used to classify habitat features. The St. John habitat classification scheme defines benthic communities on the basis of four primary coral reef ecosystem attributes: 1) broad geographic zone, 2) geomorphological structure type, 3) dominant biological cover, and 4) degree of live coral cover.
    NOAA Habitat Digitizer Extension (source 2 of 4)
    Buja, Ken, 2009, NOAA Habitat Digitizer Extension: NOAA's Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Silver Spring, MD.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    NOAA. 2009. Habitat Digitizer Extension. NOAA Biogeography Branch. Silver Spring, MD. Available: https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=203.
    Type_of_Source_Media: computer program
    Source_Contribution:
    This ArcGIS extension was used to digitize and attribute benthic zones, structure and biological cover of this map.
    IKONOS satellite imagery (source 3 of 4)
    Inc., Space Imaging, 2005, IKONOS Satellite Imagery: Space Imaging Inc., Thornton, CO.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    This imagery was obtained at a 4 m pixel resolution, deglinted and pan sharpened.
    Type_of_Source_Media: raster digital data
    Source_Contribution:
    Used to identify and digitize benthic habitats of St. John, USVI.
    Orthophotography (source 4 of 4)
    3001, Inc., 2007, Orthophotography: 3001, Inc., 401 Dividend Drive, Suite K, Peachtree City, GA 30269.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Imagery acquired on contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
    Type_of_Source_Media: raster digital data
    Source_Contribution:
    Used to identify and digitize benthic habitats of St. John, USVI.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2008 (process 1 of 6)

    Process_Contact Tim A. Battista (NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch)

    Date: 2009 (process 2 of 6)

    Process_Date 2008-2009

    Date: 2009 (process 3 of 6)
    3) Ground Validation - NOAA field scientists explored the ground validation locations with a suite of assessment techniques depending on the conditions at each site. A combination of underwater video, free diving, snorkeling and surface observations were used to survey the ecological characteristics at each location. This information was analyzed and the initial maps were edited to generate a second draft map.
    Date: 2009 (process 4 of 6)
    4) Expert Review - The draft map was then reviewed by local marine biologists, coral reef scientists and resource managers at a one-day workshop in Cruz Bay, St. John. Comments were integrated into the map products to generate a final draft map.
    Date: 2009 (process 5 of 6)

    Process_Contact Laurie J. Bauer (NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch)

    Date: 2009 (process 6 of 6)
    6) Final Products Creation - A final benthic habitat map for St. John was generated by correcting inaccuracies elucidated by the accuracy assessment. Additionally, all associated datasets, including GIS files, field video and metadata were packaged and provided to project partners and the public.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    A comprehensive assessment was conducted to evaluate the thematic accuracy of the St. John benthic habitat map. Thematic accuracy was characterized for major and detailed geomorphological structure, major and detailed biological cover, and percent coral cover. The independent accuracy assessment revealed successful overall map accuracies of over 90% for major structure and cover classes, and over 80% for detailed structure and cover classes.

    The 85.7% accuracy achieved for detailed structure in NOAA's new St. John benthic habitat maps were similar to that of other recent NOAA benthic habitat maps in the Florida Keys (86.2%), Palau (90.0%), and the Main Hawaiian Islands (90.0%).

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    3001, Inc., the imagery acquiring firm, reported 1:4,800 scale RMSE accuracy of 1.25 m for the orthophotography, but NOAA calculations with known ground control locations resulted in RMSE accuracy of 2.15 m. It is believed that polygon horizontal accuracies are inherited from the source imagery.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Delineation of all habitat boundaries was conducted with the image scale at 1:2,000. This ensured that the level of detail produced by the photo interpreter was uniform throughout the project. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) for identifying habitats or features was 1,000 square meters. The software utilized in this project was designed to alert the photo interpreter each time a polygon was drawn smaller than the a MMU; at which point the polygon was then aggregated with the most logical adjacent polygon.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    True-color digital orthophotography obtained with an ADS40 digital sensor was the primary imagery source used for delineating benthic habitats of St. John. Orthophotography provided by 3001, Inc., on contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was obtained in September and October of 2007 with a one foot ground sample distance (GSD), flight height of 8,650 feet, and 30% sidelap. At limited locations throughout the mapping area, the digital orthophotography was not suitable for habitat delineation; in which case, IKONOS multispectral satellite imagery was used as a replacement. IKONOS satellite imagery was geo-positioned , pan sharpened and deglinted by NOAA. During the digitizing process, image stretches and manipulating image contrast, brightness and color balance were performed in ArcGIS to enhance features in the processed imagery.

    GIS topologic quality was established by executing ArcGIS extension routines that check for: overlapping polygons, multipart polygons, sliver polygons and void polygons. Additionally checks for adjacent polygons with the same habitat attributes were completed. All errors were identified and corrected. This file is believed to be logically consistent.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints: Not for navigation.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Program
    1305 East West Highway
    Silver Spring, MD

    301-713-3028 x171 (voice)
    301-713-4384 (FAX)
    tim.battista@noaa.gov
    Hours_of_Service: 0800 - 1700, Monday to Friday, EST
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Downloadable Data
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is publishing this data on their website. NCCOS Biogeography Branch does not guarantee the accuracy of the geographic features or attributes. Please see the written report and metadata records for each data set for complete information on the source, limitations, and proper use.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. Is there some other way to get the data?
    Contact NOAA for distribution options (see Distributor).

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 29-Mar-2020
Last Reviewed: 23-Feb-2010
Metadata author:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch
Primary Map Creator
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD

301-713-3028 (voice)
301-713-4384 (FAX)
Hours_of_Service: 0800 - 1700, Monday to Friday, EST
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Generated by mp version 2.9.48 on Fri Apr 19 11:01:43 2024