NCCOS Assessment: Hardbottom habitat and associated planning layers in support of Mission: Iconic Reefs coral restoration planning in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary from 2019-04-09 to 2021-02-26 (NCEI Accession 0241029)

Mission: Iconic Reefs is a large-scale coral restoration effort to improve reef ecological function by restoring diverse reef-building corals to seven reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Planning for Mission: Iconic Reefs began in 2019 but has been informed by years of research, successful trials, and expertise from two dozen coral scientists and restoration practitioners. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) supported the restoration planning and spatial data coordination by 1) mapping hardbottom habitat within potential restoration sites, 2) outlining planning zones, 3) representing segments that divide the restorable coral reef into workable sections for coral restoration practitioners, and 4) representing priority restoration areas (hardbottom habitat within each planning zone).

Mission: Iconic Reefs is an ongoing project, the data archived here document the status of these data as of 7/01/2021.

Hardbottom habitats dataset: NCCOS mapped ten reef sites for Mission: Iconic Reefs planning: Carysfort Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Cheeca Rocks, Sombrero Reef, Looe Key Reef, Newfound Harbor Key Reef, Eastern Sambo Reef, Middle Sambo Reef, Western Sambo Reef, and Eastern Dry Rocks. These reef sites extend along the geographic range of the reef tract within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary along a variety of habitats and a range of human uses. Eastern Sambo Reef, Middle Sambo Reef, and Western Sambo Reef were mapped in preparation for Mission: Iconic Reefs, but were not included in further restoration planning.

Restoration planning zones dataset: NCCOS and NOAA partners coordinated the identification of spatial, habitat specific zones at each reef site. Restoration zones were initially delineated based on expert local knowledge and further refined based on bathymetry, habitat mapping, management zones, field validation, and consideration of potential restoration options. Zones were initially outlined by a panel of local experts, and all subsequent refinements were presented to the stakeholder panel for discussion and approval. For each site, the proportion of reef habitat and proportion of restorable reef was applied to the total area of each zone to determine the final proposed restoration area.

Site segmentation dataset: At the 7 Iconic Reef sites, segments were created to subdivide the restoration areas at each reef into workable areas for restoration implementation. Draft segmentation polygons were updated based on feedback from NOAA partners and restoration practitioner stakeholders. These criteria included ease of navigation underwater, relative size of segments, and consistency between reef sites. Segment boundaries were outlined to partition the reef using natural underwater landmarks for underwater navigation purposes.

Priority restoration habitats dataset: These data are a targeted subset of the hardbottom habitat dataset and combined with the restoration planning zones dataset. These data are located within the 7 Iconic Reef sites and identify the sections of each Iconic Reef site that were targeted for restoration and are identified by the hardbottom habitat type within each restoration planning zone. These data were then used to calculate the area of each habitat type within each zone and then used to calculate coral outplants.

Segment area dataset: These data provide the surface area and planar area per segment for each area targeted for restoration.