Adam Zitello, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch
2009
St. John Shallow-water Benthic Habitat Map derived from Remotely Sensed Imagery
vector digital data
Silver Spring, MD
NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
Please use citation for the written document "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" when using these data.
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=205
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
document
Silver Spring, MD
NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
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.
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.
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.
2007
ground condition
None planned
-64.844141
-64.637303
18.379268
18.288387
NCEI Geoportal FilterCoRIS_Metadata
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Benthic Habitat
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus
Geographic Information > Habitats
None
coral reef
benthic habitats
reef
submerged aquatic vegetation
unconsolidated sediments
zone
geomorphological structure
biological cover
ISO 19115 Topic Category
imageryBaseMapsEarthCover
010
environment
007
None
United States
U. S. Virgin Islands
St. John
CoRIS Place Thesaurus
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. John > St. John (18N064W0011)
OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Virgin Islands > St. John (18N064W0011)
CoRIS Region
USVI
None
Not for navigation.
Tim Battista
NOAA National Ocean Service
Researcher
mailing and physical
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring
MD
20910
USA
(301) 713-3028 x171
(301) 713-4388
Tim.Battista@noaa.gov
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.0.1770
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%).
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.
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.
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.
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
document
Silver Spring, MD
NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
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.
report
2009
publication date
Chapter 1: Benthic Habitat Classification Scheme of Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
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.
Ken Buja
2009
NOAA Habitat Digitizer Extension
Silver Spring, MD
NOAA's Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
NOAA. 2009. Habitat Digitizer Extension. NOAA Biogeography Branch. Silver Spring, MD. Available: https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=203.
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=203
computer program
2009
publication date
NOAA Habitat Digitizer Extension
This ArcGIS extension was used to digitize and attribute benthic zones, structure and biological cover of this map.
Space Imaging Inc.
2005
IKONOS Satellite Imagery
remote-sensing image
Thornton, CO
Space Imaging Inc.
This imagery was obtained at a 4 m pixel resolution, deglinted and pan sharpened.
raster digital data
2003
2005
ground condition
IKONOS satellite imagery
Used to identify and digitize benthic habitats of St. John, USVI.
3001, Inc.
2007
Orthophotography
remote-sensing image
401 Dividend Drive, Suite K, Peachtree City, GA 30269
3001, Inc.
Imagery acquired on contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
raster digital data
2007
ground condition
Orthophotography
Used to identify and digitize benthic habitats of St. John, USVI.
1) Imagery Acquisition - The first step in map creation was the acquisition and processing of a comprehensive dataset of remotely sensed imagery. All imagery was geo-positioned to ensure acceptable spatial accuracy in the mapping product. In the case of St. John, two separate data types were used (color orthophotography and IKONOS satellite imagery) in order to capture the full mappable extent using optical techniques.
Process_Contact: Tim A. Battista (NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch)
2008
2) Habitat Boundary Delineation - A first draft benthic habitat map was generated by delineating all features that could be identified by visual inspection of the remotely sensed imagery. During the creation of this first draft, the interpreter placed discrete points on the map that were difficult to distinguish and that warranted further field investigation. These sites were labeled as "ground validation" positions.
Process_Date: 2008-2009
2009
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.
2009
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.
2009
5) Accuracy Assessment - An independent team of NOAA scientists not associated with map creation, conducted field investigations at pre-defined locations to assess the accuracy of the final draft map. Locations were generated with a stratified random sampling design that allowed for a statistically rigorous assessment of map accuracy.
Process_Contact: Laurie J. Bauer (NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch)
2009
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.
2009
Vector
G-Polygon
1940
Universal Transverse Mercator
20
0.999600
-63.000000
0.000000
500000.000000
0.000000
Coordinate Pair
0.000001
0.000001
meters
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222
Attribute Table for Benthic Habitat Map of St. John
Shapefile attribute table
None
FID
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Shape
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Coordinates defining the features.
UniqueID
A distinct identifier used to define each unique combination of habitat characteristics
NOAA
Specific code used for NOAA coral reef habitat maps
Described in "Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" (Zitello et al. 2009)
Area
Calculated feature area
NOAA
Area of feature in square meters.
Perimeter
Calculated feature perimeter
NOAA
Length of feature perimeter in meters
Zone
Geographic zone
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
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
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
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
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
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
NOAA
Unknown
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).
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.
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
mailing and physical address
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring
MD
20910
301-713-3028 x171
301-713-4384
tim.battista@noaa.gov
0800 - 1700, Monday to Friday, EST
Downloadable Data
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.
Contact NOAA for distribution options (see Distributor).
20200329
20100223
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
mailing and physical address
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring
MD
20910
301-713-3028
301-713-4384
0800 - 1700, Monday to Friday, EST
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
Local Time
20100223093242
None
20070101
20071231
https://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/metadata_stjohn_shallowwater_benthic_habitats.html
4483