Benthic Mapping Pilot Project: St. John, Virgin Islands (VICR and VIIS)

Curdts, Thom

Benthic habitat mapping efforts were undertaken at St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), Biogeography Branch with support from the National Park Service (NPS). The project has two major components: shallow-water (< 30 meters) benthic habitat mapping and moderate-depth (30 - 60 meters) benthic habitat mapping. Different technologies and techniques were used to collect data and derive habitat maps for the two different depth ranges. This project includes a zip file (StJohn_Benthic_Habitats.zip, ~750 MB) that contains the following core project data: readme file (Data Index); moderate depth habitat data and habitat maps (shapefiles and symbology for Biological Cover, Geographic Zones, Geomorphological Structure, Live Coral cover), metadata and final report; shallow water habitat data and habitat maps (an atlas of 24 tiled geo-PDF maps, shapefiles and symbology for Biological Cover, Geographic Zones, Geomorphological Structure, Live Coral Cover), metadata and final report. Project data NOT included in this zip file but available via physical media (see CONTACT information) and the internet (http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/gv_stjohn/stjohn_biomapper.html) include: moderate depth acoustic imagery, multibeam echosounder (MBES) sound navigation and ranging (SoNAR) data and derivatives, underwater video and still photography, semi-automated habitat classification information (Quick, Unbiased, Efficient Statistical Tree (QUEST)), shallow water remotely sensed imagery (ADS40 digitatl photography and IKONOS multispectral satellite imagery), underwater video and still photography.

Benthic Mapping Pilot Project: St. John, Virgin Islands (VICR and VIIS)

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