This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in shallow water (0-35m) benthic habitats surrounding Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island. The area 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 GV data contains GPS-positioned underwater photo/videos of selected benthic habitats that were used to enhance thematic maps created by the Biogeography Team. The observations from the videos are used to classify seafloor features and develop a benthic habitat map. The GV data was collected in July 8 - 24, 2013 and October 22- November 7, 2013. The field work was conducted by NOAA together with local DRNA and NOAA contractors.
The primary purpose of this dataset was to provide ground validation to the benthic habitat map for the Northeast Reserve, Puerto Rico (NEPR). Habitat maps provide a spatially explicit representation of benthic structure and biological cover. The spatial products developed for this project will: (1) inform local managers as to the current distribution of resources, (2) provide a point of comparison for past and future mapping efforts, (3) help locate sensitive marine communities, and (4) guide monitoring efforts and prioritize management actions.
ground condition
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION. These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.
1305 East West Highway, SSMC4
9th Floor, #9311
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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 Branch
All users should independently analyze the dataset according to their own needs and standards to determine data usability.
Ground validation work was completed after two field missions. Extra GV sites that were determined to be useful habitat information were added to the shapefile as well. All GV points are linked to the site video and photos that are served in the Biomapper data portal.
point data represents the approximate centroid (+ - 20m) of each drop-camera or snorkel transit of a ground validation site.
Benthic Habitat Map
Ground Validation Field Missions
Ground validation points for the NEPR were selected using a stratified random sampling method based on the benthic habitat map schema.
The Ground validation sites were planned by manually placing points on a draft habitat map based on remote sensing imagery. The sites were selected to include all types of remote sensing signatures, covering habitat features across the whole project area (approximately two GV sites/km2). Each ground validation site was sampled either by an underwater drop-camera (SeaViewer Sea-Drop 950 and a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition) or by snorkeling to the site with handheld underwater video camera (GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition). The Video data was collected at 1440*1920 pixels, while simultaneously collecting photos at 12MP every 5 seconds. Drop Camera Videos were positioned and recorded using a Trimble Geo XH GPS system, while snorkel videos were positioned using a handheld Garmin GPS on a dive buoy. The GPS data was connected to the videos using calibrated time stamps. The video data was then used to extract habitat data used to classify the habitat map, as well as presence of selected key species such as ESA listed Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis corals.
Each ground validation point contains the benthic habitat information based on observational data collected from the underwater video by the Biogeography Team. The benthic habitat classification system is based on the structure developed by the Biogeography team used throughout the US Caribbean. Each GV point contains information on major geomorphological structure, detailed geomorphological structure, percent hardbottom, topographic complexity, dominant biological cover, percent biological cover, co-occurring biological cover, percent coral cover, dominant coral type (hard/soft/mixed), Acropora presence, fauna presence and visibility conditions.
For more details on the entity and attribute information on the NEPR Ground Validation shapefile and the benthic habitat classification scheme, see Chapter 2 of the NCOSS technical memorandum Mapping of Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island.
These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.
1305 East West Highway, SSMC4, 9th Floor #9226
