Identification_Information: Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: 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 Publication_Date: 2011 Title: USVI 2011, Ground Validation ROV Transect Lines, NOAA Ship Nancy Foster Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data Publication_Information: Publication_Place: Silver Spring, MD Publisher: NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Other_Citation_Details: Please cite NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA/Biogeography Branch when using this dataset. Online_Linkage: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/usvi_nps/data/ Larger_Work_Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: 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 Publication_Date: 2011 Title: Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean. Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: document Publication_Information: Publication_Place: Silver Spring, MD Publisher: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch Description: Abstract: This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and/or video that were collected by NOAA scientists using a Spectrum Phantom S2 ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Photos and/or video were collected between 03/28/2011 and 04/16/2011 along 50 transects (please note that dive 26 was aborted) south of St. John and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and east of Vieques, Puerto Rico. These photos and videos will be manually classified into different habitat classes, and integrated with the abiotic data collected by the acoustic sonar (sound navigation and ranging) systems to develop a benthic habitat map for the U.S. Caribbean. Habitat maps describe the location of habitat features (in relation to the shoreline), their physical composition and the types of organisms that colonize them. Fundamentally, habitat maps provide critical information about the extent, health and composition of marine resources, which is vital for communicating information about the distribution and abundance of species to resource managers, scientists and the public. Habitat maps also support an increasing number of landscape ecology studies, as well as the process of marine spatial planning, including the design and evaluation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Purpose: The objective of this ground validation (GV) effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Biogeography Branch, in collaboration with multiple federal, state, territory, academic and private sector partners, was to acquire spatially-explicit information about the geomorphological structure, biological cover and live coral cover of the seafloor in the U.S. Caribbean. Extensive field work is needed to create high-quality benthic habitat maps because it enhances the accuracy of habitat attribution and (to a lesser degree) habitat delineation. Consequently, ground validation locations were targeted by the cartographer to satisfy the following objectives: (1) Explore features in the imagery with unknown or confusing acoustic signatures; (2) Confirm that the habitat type correlated with a particular acoustic signature remained consistent throughout the entire study area. This information will be incorporated into a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of marine habitats in the U.S. Caribbean. Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Range_of_Dates/Times: Beginning_Date: 20110328 Ending_Date: 20110416 Currentness_Reference: ground condition Status: Progress: Complete Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None Planned Spatial_Domain: Bounding_Coordinates: West_Bounding_Coordinate: -65.191795 East_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.656788 North_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.301325 South_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.163179 Keywords: Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Theme_Keyword: coral reef Theme_Keyword: benthic habitats Theme_Keyword: reef Theme_Keyword: zone Theme_Keyword: geomorphological structure Theme_Keyword: biological cover Theme_Keyword: ground validation Theme_Keyword: ground truthing Theme_Keyword: transect Theme_Keyword: underwater video Theme_Keyword: underwater photography Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category Theme_Keyword: imageryBaseMapsEarthCover Theme_Keyword: 010 Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus Theme_Keyword: Geographic Information > Habitats Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: CoRIS Theme Thesaurus Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping > Habitat Mapping Place: Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Place_Keyword: United States Place_Keyword: U.S. Caribbean Place_Keyword: U.S. Virgin Islands Place_Keyword: St. John Place_Keyword: St. Thomas Place: Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: CoRIS Region Place_Keyword: USVI Place_Keyword: PR Place: Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: CoRIS Place Thesaurus Place_Keyword: COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > U. S. Virgin Islands > U. S. Virgin Islands (17N064W0000) Place_Keyword: COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. John > St. John (18N064W0011) Place_Keyword: OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Virgin Islands > St. John (18N064W0011) Place_Keyword: COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Thomas > St. Thomas (18N064W0033) Place_Keyword: COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Puerto Rico > Vieques > Vieques Island (18N065W0002) Place_Keyword: OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Puerto Rico > Culebra Island (18N065W0011) Place_Keyword: COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Puerto Rico > Culebra Island (18N065W0011) Place_Keyword: OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Lesser Antilles > U. S. Virgin Islands (17N064W0000) Place_Keyword: OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Leeward Islands > St. Thomas (18N064W0033) Place_Keyword: OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Puerto Rico > Vieques Island > Vieques Island (18N065W0002) Access_Constraints: Please cite any use of this data. Use_Constraints: 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. Point_of_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch Contact_Position: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor City: Silver Spring State_or_Province: MD Postal_Code: 20910 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (301) 713-3028 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (301) 713-4384 Contact_Instructions: Contact info is for CCMA general reception. Please ask for current project manager of Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean project Native_Data_Set_Environment: Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.1850 Data_Quality_Information: Attribute_Accuracy: Attribute_Accuracy_Report: The records in this data layer were automatically acquired by the GPS units and are expected to be correct. Logical_Consistency_Report: None. Completeness_Report: This shapefile includes all the locations visited during this mission. Positional_Accuracy: Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy: Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report: None. Lineage: Process_Step: Process_Description: A first draft benthic habitat map was generated by delineating features on the seafloor with discrete acoustic signatures. During the creation of this first draft map, the cartographer placed discrete lines intersecting features in the map that had unknown acoustic signatures. Lines were also placed on features with known acoustic signatures (evenly distributed throughout the geographic extent of the map) to confirm that the habitats associated with these signatures remained consistent through the area of interest. These two types of points were labeled as "ground validation" sites and were visited in the field. Process_Date: 2011 Process_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch Contact_Position: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor City: Silver Spring State_or_Province: MD Postal_Code: 20910 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (301) 713-3028 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (301) 713-4384 Contact_Instructions: Contact info is for CCMA general reception. Please ask for current project manager of Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean. Process_Step: Process_Description: NOAA scientists explored these ground validation locations in situ using an ROV. The resulting positional, video and photographic information was processed and will be used to classify each distinct habitat polygon to create a map of the seafloor in the U.S. Caribbean. Process_Date: 2011 Process_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch Contact_Position: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor City: Silver Spring State_or_Province: MD Postal_Code: 20910 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (301) 713-3028 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (301) 713-4384 Contact_Instructions: Contact info is for CCMA general reception. Please ask for current project manager of Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean. Spatial_Data_Organization_Information: Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector Point_and_Vector_Object_Information: SDTS_Terms_Description: SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: String Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 50 Spatial_Reference_Information: Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition: Planar: Grid_Coordinate_System: 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_Coordinate_Information: Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: Coordinate Pair Coordinate_Representation: Abscissa_Resolution: 1.000000 Ordinate_Resolution: 1.000000 Planar_Distance_Units: meters Geodetic_Model: Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1983 Ellipsoid_Name: Geodetic Reference System 80 Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.000000 Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257222 Entity_and_Attribute_Information: Detailed_Description: Entity_Type: Entity_Type_Label: ROV_2011_Transects_Lines Entity_Type_Definition: Shapefile attribute table Entity_Type_Definition_Source: Biogeography Branch Attribute: Attribute_Label: FID Attribute_Definition: Internal feature number. Attribute_Definition_Source: Biogeography Branch Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Attribute: Attribute_Label: Shape Attribute_Definition: Feature geometry. Attribute_Definition_Source: Biogeography Branch Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Coordinates defining the features. Attribute: Attribute_Label: Dive Attribute_Definition: Sequential order of the GV dives. Attribute_Definition_Source: Biogeography Branch Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Alphanumeric value assigned to each dive. Attribute: Attribute_Label: Year Attribute_Definition: Year in which the underwater photos and video were collected Attribute_Definition_Source: Biogeography Branch Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 2011 Range_Domain_Maximum: 2011 Distribution_Information: Distributor: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch Contact_Position: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor City: Silver Spring State_or_Province: MD Postal_Code: 20910 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (301) 713-3028 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (301) 713-4384 Contact_Instructions: Contact info is for CCMA general reception. Please ask for current project manager of Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean. Resource_Description: Downloadable Data Distribution_Liability: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Biogeography Branch does not guarantee the accuracy of the geographic features or attributes. Standard_Order_Process: Digital_Form: Digital_Transfer_Information: Format_Name: ESRI Shapefile Transfer_Size: 11.419 Digital_Transfer_Option: Online_Option: Computer_Contact_Information: Network_Address: Network_Resource_Name: http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/datasets/ccma/biogeo/usvi_nps/2011/gv/rov_2011_lines.zip Fees: None Custom_Order_Process: Contact NOAA for distribution options (see Distributor). Metadata_Reference_Information: Metadata_Date: 20121228 Metadata_Review_Date: 20121220 Metadata_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch Contact_Person: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Position: Project Manager - Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor City: Silver Spring State_or_Province: MD Postal_Code: 20910 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (301) 713-3028 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (301) 713-4384 Contact_Instructions: Contact info is for CCMA general reception. Please ask for current project manager of Seafloor Characterization of the U.S. Caribbean. Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998 Metadata_Time_Convention: Local Time CoRIS: CoRIS_ID: 20121220040656 CoRIS_Children: None CoRIS_Beginning_Date: 20110328 CoRIS_Ending_Date: 20110416 CoRIS_Metadata_Link: http://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/rov_2011_transects_lines.html CoRIS_Tracking_ID: 6598