Description: This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in Fish Bay and Coral Bay, St. John and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). These locations were explored using an underwater camera because their habitat types were unknown. They were collected between 10/23-10/31/12, and used to train a machine learning algorithm to classify seafloor features and develop a benthic habitat map for Fish Bay, Coral Bay and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Description: This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in Fish Bay and Coral Bay, St. John and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). These locations were explored using an underwater camera because their habitat types were unknown. They were collected between 10/23-10/31/12, and used to train a machine learning algorithm to classify seafloor features and develop a benthic habitat map for Fish Bay, Coral Bay and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Description: This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in Fish Bay and Coral Bay, St. John and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). These locations were explored using an underwater camera because their habitat types were unknown. They were collected between 10/23-10/31/12, and used to train a machine learning algorithm to classify seafloor features and develop a benthic habitat map for Fish Bay, Coral Bay and the St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><P><SPAN>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collected imagery of the nearshore, marine areas (0-40 meters deep) around St. John and north of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.</SPAN></P><P><SPAN /></P><P><SPAN>These areas included the marine areas in and around:</SPAN></P><P><SPAN> • Coral Bay (from Cabritte Horn Point east to the Flanagan Passage, and Brown Bay south to Ram Head)</SPAN></P><P><SPAN> • Fish Bay (from Dittlif Point east to Reef Bay, and the inner bay south to the 30 meter depth contour)</SPAN></P><P><SPAN> • The St. Thomas East End Reserve (STEER) (from Long Point east to Pillsbury Sound, and Red Hook Point south to Buck Island National Wildlife Refuge)</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
Description: These are the boundaries for all polygons in the classification scheme, broken out by the Biological Cover, Dominant Coral Type, Percent Hardbottom, Live Coral Cover, Structure, and Zone fields.
Description: Twelve unique (i.e., major plus detailed) biological cover classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. 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 100 m2 were not considered. Five major cover types were identified from the source imagery (i.e., Algae, Live Coral, 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 biological cover was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or LiDAR imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Hard or soft coral dominance was classified when live coral cover was estimated to be >10%. Hard/soft coral dominance was mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. This class was experimental, and was included in this mapping effort to provide resource managers with additional information about corals. “N/A" denotes that live coral cover was 0% -<10%, is not appropriate for this particular major biological cover class (e.g., for Land). "Unknown" indicates that the dominant coral cover type was not classified because the structure and/or biological cover types were unknown.
Description: Six unique and non-overlapping percent hardbottom classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. 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 (100 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 LiDAR imagery due to interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Four distinct and non-overlapping percent live coral classes were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. 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: Fifteen distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. 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, Reef Rubble, Rock/ Boulder, Spur and Groove, Mud, Rhodoliths, Rhodoliths with Scattered Coral and Rock, Sand, Sand with Scattered Coral and Rock, Artificial, and Land). Habitats or features with areas smaller than the MMU or minimum mapping unit (100 m2) were not considered. "Unknown" indicates that the structure type was indistinguishable in the aerial orthophotos or LiDAR imagery due interference with the signature of the seafloor.
Description: Ten distinct and non-overlapping geographic zone types were mapped by interpreting aerial photos and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery using manual and semi-automated methods. 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 (100 m2) were not considered.
Description: This image represents a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) 0.3x0.3 meter resolution depth surface. The image's horizontal coordinate system is NAD83 UTM 20 North. Fugro LADS acquired bathymetry and relative seafloor reflectivity between 1/29/2011 - 2/28/2011. Bathymetry and reflectivity data were acquired using a LADS (Laser Airborne Depth Sounder) Mark II Airborne System from altitudes between 1,200 and 2,200ft at ground speeds between 140 and 175 knots. The 900 Hertz Nd: YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser (1064 nm) acquired 3x3 meter spot spacing and 200% seabed coverage. Depths between 3 and 40 m were surveyed, producing a 3x3 m bathymetry and 3x3 m reflectivity surface. These surfaces were resampled to 0.3x0.3 m to match the spatial resolution of the orthophotos collected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2012. Environmental factors such as wind strength and direction, cloud cover, water clarity and depth influenced the area of data acquisition on a daily basis. The data was processed using the LADS Mark II Ground System and data visualization, quality control and final products were created using CARIS HIPS and SIPS and CARIS BASE Editor.
Description: This image represents a 0.3x0.3 meter principal component analysis (PCA) surface. It was created by integrating eight topographic complexity surfaces (mean depth, standard deviation of depth, curvature, plan curvature, profile curvature, rugosity, slope, and slope of slope). The eight complexity surfaces were rendered, stacked and exported to create one image with several different bands (each band representing a specific complexity surface). This stacked image was transformed into its first three principal components using the "Principal Components Analysis" function in ENVI 5.0. The transformation reduced the dimensionality of the dataset by removing information that correlated among the different bands (i.e., complexity surfaces). The resulting PCA GeoTIFF was created to aid in the classification of benthic habitat inside Coral Bay, St. John.
Description: This image represents a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) 0.3x0.3 meter resolution relative seafloor reflectivity surface. The image's horizontal coordinate system is NAD83 UTM 20 North. Fugro LADS acquired bathymetry and relative seafloor reflectivity between 1/29/2011 - 2/28/2011. Bathymetry and reflectivity data were acquired using a LADS (Laser Airborne Depth Sounder) Mark II Airborne System from altitudes between 1,200 and 2,200ft at ground speeds between 140 and 175 knots. The 900 Hertz Nd: YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser (1064 nm) acquired 3x3 meter spot spacing and 200% seabed coverage. Depths between 3 and 40 m were surveyed, producing a 3x3 m bathymetry and 3x3 m reflectivity surface. These surfaces were resampled to 0.3x0.3 m to match the spatial resolution of the orthophotos collected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2012.
Description: This image represents a 3x3 meter slope surface. Hillshade was calculated from the bathymetry surface for each raster cell using ArcGIS's Spatial Analyst 'Hillshade' Tool.