Bryan Costa, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Branch 2009 vector digital data Silver Spring, MD NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Please use citation for the written document "Moderate-Depth Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" when using these data. http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreef/benthic/ http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/bhv/bhvMapBrowser.aspx 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 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 habitats of the moderate-depth marine environment in and around the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument were mapped using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation of acoustic 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 moderate-depth habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover south of St. John. The data contained in this shapefile denote the position of the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) as it followed 13 predetermined transects. These ground validation (GV) transects were explored by NOAA field scientists to further refine habitat map classification. 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. Given the importance of field work, the primary purpose of this survey data was to explore and verify existing habitat information on the seafloor. In particular, these 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 was incorporated into a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of moderate-depth 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. The creation of high-quality benthic habitat maps required extensive field work to enhance accuracies of habitat attribution and, to a lesser degree, habitat delineation. Data were collected along 13 ground validation transects during a two-week field mission from 2/1/2005 - 2/12/2005 aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. Post-processing of the GPS data allowed for a series of points to represent the actual survey location. 20050201 unknown 20050212 unknown ground condition Complete None planned -64.806240 -64.670462 18.308621 18.236738 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 ground validation transect ROV Remotely Operated Vehicle 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. Bryan Costa 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 mailing and physical address

1305 East West Highway, N-SCI-1, SSMC 4, 9th Floor

Silver Spring MD 20910 301-713-3028 x146 301-713-4384 bryan.costa@noaa.gov 0800 - 1700, Monday to Friday, EST Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.1850 Please see the following document: Battista, T. A., and Lazar, J.V. (2005). MBES data acquisition & processing report: Project NF-05-05-USVI, NOAA Data Acquisition & Processing Report, NOS NCCOS CCMA (On-line). On-line: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/usvi_nps/pdf/NF-05-05_DAPR.pdf A transducer attached to the ROV and an acoustic receiver (suspended off the side of the ship) were used to determine the ROV's relative position to the ship. The ROV's absolute geographic position was estimated using this relative position and the shipboard differentrial GPS. The positional accuracy was estimated to be within +/-5 m. This file is believed to be logically consistent. 13 transects were explored for ground validation during this work. The positional accuracy was estimated to be within +/-5 m. Please see the following document for more information: Battista, T. A., and Lazar, J.V. (2005). MBES data acquisition & processing report: Project NF-05-05-USVI, NOAA Data Acquisition & Processing Report, NOS NCCOS CCMA (On-line). On-line: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/usvi_nps/pdf/NF-05-05_DAPR.pdf NOAA 2009 GPS data 2005 ground condition Trimble SSF Files Please see the following document for more information: Battista, T. A., and Lazar, J.V. (2005). MBES data acquisition & processing report: Project NF-05-05-USVI, NOAA Data Acquisition & Processing Report, NOS NCCOS CCMA (On-line). On-line: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/usvi_nps/pdf/NF-05-05_DAPR.pdf For the 2005 mission, the GV transects were systematically placed over the study area to include as many benthic habitat features and transition zones as possible. Distinct features and transitional areas were identified by visual examination of fine-scale multibeam bathymetry data collected in 2004 and moderate-scale GEODAS bathymetry data (GEODAS, 2005). The bathymetry data were divided into distinct benthic habitats using variations in depth, roughness and spatial patterning (ridges, bumps, troughs, regular undulations, etc.). 2005 Georeferenced underwater video and photographs were acquired using a video camera and high-resolution digital still camera mounted on a Spectrum Phantom S2 ROV. High powered strobe lights mounted on theROV were used to supplement ambient light levels during the day and served as the only source of light during night operations. Data from the cameras were transmitted and immediately recorded to a computer's hard drive. Video data were collected during an entire transect, and still photos were collected every 30 seconds. The forward-facing video camera was pointed at a 45 degree downward angle to give ROV pilots a view of upcoming obstacles and researchers a view of the benthic habitat. The ROV's height above the substrate and speed were approximately 2 m and 1 m/s, respectively. The ROV pilot attempted to keep the ROV height and speed as constant to standardize the field of view and spatial resolution of interpretations. Two downward pointing parallel lasers separated by 5 cm and the scale of habitat features and organisms were used to estimate height off the bottom. Still photo images were acquired using a downward pointed camera. 2005 The resulting GPS and video information was processed, analyzed and used to train the classification algorithm that was used to generate the second draft map. 2009 Vector Entity Point 2005 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 GVData_ModerateDepth_Transects 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. Source The mission during which the site was visited NOAA Unknown Date_ Date of the transect NOAA Unknown Site_Type Type of site (i.e., GV or AA) NOAA Unknown TransectID Unique transect ID NOAA Unknown VideoName Name of video associated with a site NOAA Unknown Time Time of the transect NOAA Variable Unique_ID Concatenation of the transect ID, dive number and time NOAA Variable Zone_ Geographic Zone NOAA Unknown Maj_Struct Major Geomorphological Structure NOAA Unknown Det_Struct Detailed Geomorphological Structure NOAA Unknown Maj_Cover Major Biological Cover NOAA Unknown P_Maj_Cov Percent density/patchiness of major biological cover NOAA Unknown P_Coral_Cv Percent live coral cover NOAA Variable Cover Concatenation of major and percent biological cover NOAA Unknown Habitat Concatenation of detailed geomorphological structure, major and percent biological cover and percent live coral cover NOAA Unknown 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). 20121220 20100225 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 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 20100225074329 None 20050201 20050212 http://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/metadata_gvdata_moderate_depth_transects.html 4489