NOAA Shallow-Water Benthic Habitats: CNMI: Guguan


Benthic habitat maps for the nearshore, shallow (< 30 m) coastal waters of the island of Guguan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) produced these data to support coral reef research and management. Habitat regions were digitally identified using visual interpretation of orthorectified satellite imagery with a minimum mapping unit (MMU) of approximately 1 acre. Includes biological cover types, geomorphological structure types, and geographic zones. Eighteen distinct and non-overlapping biological cover types were identified. Habitats or features that cover areas smaller than the minimal mapping unit of 1 acre were not considered. For example, uncolonized sand halos surrounding coral patch reefs are too small to be mapped independently. Cover type refers only to the predominant biological component colonizing the surface of the feature and does not address location (e.g., on the shelf or in the lagoon). The cover types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from eight major classes (live coral, seagrass, macroalgae, encrusting/coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation, uncolonized, and unknown), combined with a density modifier representing the percentage of the predominant cover type (10%-<50% sparse, 50%-<90% patchy, 90%-100% continuous). Similarly, 14 distinct and non-overlapping geomorphological structure types were identified. The structure types are defined in a collapsible hierarchy ranging from four major classes (coral reef and hardbottom, unconsolidated sediment, other delineations, and unknown), to thirteen detailed classes: sand, mud, spur and groove, individual and aggregated patch reef, aggregate reef, scattered coral/rock in unconsolidated sediment, pavement, rock/boulder (volcanic and carbonate), reef rubble, pavement with sand channels, artificial, and unknown. Lastly, 13 mutually exclusive geographic zones were identified from land to open water corresponding to typical insular shelf and coral reef geomorphology. These zones include: shoreline intertidal, vertical wall (none identified), lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, fore reef, bank/shelf, bank/shelf escarpment, channel, dredged (since this condition eliminates natural geomorphology), unknown, and land. Zone refers only to each benthic community's location and does not address substrate or cover types within. For example, the lagoon zone may include patch reefs, sand, and seagrass beds; however, these are considered structural elements that may or may not occur within the lagoon zone and therefore, are not used to define it.

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Distributor NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
Point of Contact NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
nccos.webcontent@noaa.gov
Online Resource
Originator NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
nccos.webcontent@noaa.gov
Online Resource
Publisher Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS)
info@pacioos.org
Online Resource
Dataset Point of Contact Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS)
info@pacioos.org
General Documentation
Associated Documentation Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS)
Date(s) creation: 2017-11-22
issued: 2017-11-22
revision: 2017-11-22
creation: 2017-11-22
issued: 2017-11-22
revision: 2017-11-22
creation: 2017-11-22
issued: 2017-11-22
revision: 2017-11-22
creation: 2017-11-22
issued: 2017-11-22
revision: 2017-11-22
Purpose PacIOOS provides timely, reliable, and accurate ocean information to support a safe, clean, productive ocean and resilient coastal zone in the U.S. Pacific Islands region.
Use Limitations The data may be used and redistributed for free but is not intended for legal use, since it may contain inaccuracies. Neither the data Contributor, University of Hawaii, PacIOOS, NOAA, State of Hawaii nor the United States Government, nor any of their employees or contractors, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness, of this information.
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates N: 17.3269846897986° S: 17.2912461346099° E: 145.861525223777° W: 145.823924715674°
Theme keywords GCMD Science Keywords
  • Earth Science > Biological Classification > Plants > Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) > Monocots > Seagrass
  • Earth Science > Biosphere > Aquatic Ecosystems > Benthic Habitat
  • Earth Science > Biosphere > Vegetation
  • Earth Science > Land Surface > Geomorphology > Coastal Landforms/Processes
  • Earth Science > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs
  • Earth Science > Solid Earth > Geomorphic Landforms/Processes > Coastal Landforms > Coral Reefs
  • Earth Science > Solid Earth > Geomorphic Landforms/Processes > Coastal Landforms > Coral Reefs > Patch Reef

Data Center keywords GCMD Data Center Keywords
  • PacIOOS > Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System

Place keywords GCMD Location Keywords
  • Ocean > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Micronesia > Northern Mariana Islands > Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
  • Ocean > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Micronesia > Northern Mariana Islands > Guguan

Project keywords GCMD Project Keywords
  • PacIOOS > Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System

Use Constraints The data may be used and redistributed for free but is not intended for legal use, since it may contain inaccuracies. Neither the data Contributor, University of Hawaii, PacIOOS, NOAA, State of Hawaii nor the United States Government, nor any of their employees or contractors, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness, of this information.
Lineage Statement 2017-11-22T00:00:00Z OGC web services (WMS and WFS) enabled by PacIOOS via GeoServer. Original data from source provider may have been reformatted, reprojected, or adjusted in other ways to optimize these capabilities.
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