This GeoTiff is a mosaic of World View 2 panchromatic satellite imagery of Northeast Puerto Rico that contains the shallow water area (0-35m deep) surrounding Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island. The WV2 imagery was processed using ArcGIS tools to cloudmask, deglint and water-column correct the image (Lyzenga method) then using PCI imagery analysis to create a continues, color balanced mosaic. The DigitalGlobe WV2 is a commercial high resolution (0.5m - 1.5m) multi-spectral satellite that surveyed the NEPR area in 2011-2013. The enhanced Red, Green, Blue and Near Infrared 1 bands allowed the Biogeography branch to delineate habitats using feature extraction tools in Envi 5.1 software. The multispectral bands were analyzed to detect coral reefs and seagrass beds under the surface of the water, as well as features above the surface, such as mangroves, salt ponds, and the shoreline edges. The WV2 mosaic, the bathymetry model, principle component analysis, and aerial imagery were all used integrally to create the NEPR Benthic Habitat Map.
The WV2 satellite mosaic was used along with the bathymetry model, principle component analysis, and aerial imagery to characterize sea floor topography of the NEPR and to create benthic habitat maps, helping NOAA meet its mapping commitment to the US Coral Reef Task Force. The resulting publicly-distributed data is also a contribution to the greater scientific community interested in the Caribbean seafloor. The spatial products developed for this habitat model 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
Note: 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
Primary contact mode: email
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.
This mosaic was masked for clouds and color balanced into a seamless mosaic, however certain areas contained no data due to total coverage of clouds. The final mosaic was processed with a median filtered to remove noise, and to fill small gaps in coverage.
See NOAA Technical Memorandum: Benthic Habitats of Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island
DigitalGlobe WorldView 2 Satellite
raw satellite imagery
The area of interest was covered with 12 separate passes of the WorldView-2 Satellite. The Biogeography Branch removed clouds, shadows and white water from the source data by applying pixel based masks and manual masks, and reduced sun glint from the imagery by applying a infrared1 band subtraction. Furthermore, the satellite scenes were normalized from the water column effect, to better represent the seafloor, by using the Lyzenga method. The source data had large swaths of overlapping coverage, which often allowed the mapper to fill in the masked features with other scenes. Once the clouds and other features were extracted, color balancing in PCI was used to create a seamless mosaic from the 12 original scenes (divided into 27 sub scenes ranked based on quality).
The corrected WorldView 2 Satellite data had to be merged and color balanced to produce a seamless georeferenced mosaic. This was done using PCI Geomatica neighborhood analysis, producing a 3 band raster image that was then analyzed along with the bathymetry, pca, available USACE aerial photos and ground validation imagery to create the benthic habitat map.
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
