St. John Benthic Habitat Mapping - Moderate Depth Ground Validation Sites (Mean Locations)
Description
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 represent the mean locations of the 117 ground validation (GV) sites explored by NOAA field scientists to further refine habitat map classification. Considering vessel drift during habitat characterization, the entire evaluation period was most accurately represented by a series of GPS points logged at five-second intervals.
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Tags
- st. john (18n064w0011)
- united states of america
- aquatic habitat
- virgin islands
- coral reef
- benthic habitat
- biosphere
- usvi
- united states
- caribbean sea
- st. john
- habitats
- atlantic ocean
- earth science
- biological cover
- submerged aquatic vegetation
- zone
- benthic habitats
- geomorphological structure
- ground validation
- ocean basin
- reef
- u. s. virgin islands
- coris_metadata
- geographic information
- country/territory
- unconsolidated sediments
- transect