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2019 NOAA Bathymetric Lidar with Waveform Metrics: Saipan, CNMI

Published by National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: May 10, 2026 at 03:40 AM | Dataset Last Updated: January 16, 2024 at 12:00 AM
This data package contains bathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) Chiroptera-4X .LAS 1.4 files with waveform metrics (as extra bytes) for 0 to 50 meter depths around the island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Bathymetric lidar waveforms depict the amount of laser light returned from the seafloor recorded during each laser pulse. Typically, only the leading edge of the seafloor return is used to calculate bottom depth. However, the shape of the seafloor return also contains novel information about the physical structure and biological cover on the seafloor (Collin et al. 2011, Wilson et al. 2019). To extract this information, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) partnered with Oregon State University (OSU), NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM), Woolpert and Hexagon Leica to develop software to export, process, normalize and rasterize 16 LWFM describing the shape of the seafloor return (Jung et al. In Review; Collin et al. 2011; Parrish et al. 2014; Kashani et al. 2015; Kogut et al. 2022). The resulting LWFM rasters were used to predict the distribution of key coral reef taxa and habitats west of Saipan (Costa et al. 2024). This effort marks one of the few studies that have used LWFM to predict tropical coral reef habitats to date. These processing workflows and associated software will also make LWFM creation easier and more routine for future Chiroptera-4X lidar collections by NOAA and its partners. This project was funded by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), and leverages significant investments made by NOAA NCCOS, NOAA National Geodetic Survey, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, and the U.S. Geological Survey in the region.

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EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY > BATHYMETRY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > CORAL REEFS EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > LIDAR EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > LIDAR > LIDAR WAVEFORM CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN > MICRONESIA > NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS VERTICAL LOCATION > SEA FLOOR 1 meter - < 10 meters

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "Costa, Bryan",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:bryan.costa@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This data package contains bathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) Chiroptera-4X .LAS 1.4 files with waveform metrics (as extra bytes) for 0 to 50 meter depths around the island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Bathymetric lidar waveforms depict the amount of laser light returned from the seafloor recorded during each laser pulse. Typically, only the leading edge of the seafloor return is used to calculate bottom depth. However, the shape of the seafloor return also contains novel information about the physical structure and biological cover on the seafloor (Collin et al. 2011, Wilson et al. 2019). To extract this information, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) partnered with Oregon State University (OSU), NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM), Woolpert and Hexagon Leica to develop software to export, process, normalize and rasterize 16 LWFM describing the shape of the seafloor return (Jung et al. In Review; Collin et al. 2011; Parrish et al. 2014; Kashani et al. 2015; Kogut et al. 2022). The resulting LWFM rasters were used to predict the distribution of key coral reef taxa and habitats west of Saipan (Costa et al. 2024). This effort marks one of the few studies that have used LWFM to predict tropical coral reef habitats to date. These processing workflows and associated software will also make LWFM creation easier and more routine for future Chiroptera-4X lidar collections by NOAA and its partners. This project was funded by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), and leverages significant investments made by NOAA NCCOS, NOAA National Geodetic Survey, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, and the U.S. Geological Survey in the region.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Bulk Download",
    "accessURL": "https://noaa-nos-coastal-lidar-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/laz/geoid12b/10031/index.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Bulk download of data files in vertical orthometric datum, geographic coordinates.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:id=10031/details/10031",
    "accessURL": "https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:id=10031/details/10031",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Custom download app allowing subsetting, projection change, and generation of derived products.
Input Data File Specification: LAS 1.4
Output File Compression: Zip",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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  {
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    "description": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 22. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords",
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/nos/nccos/iso/xml/71943.xml
isPartOf 2019 - 2020 USGS/NOAA Topobathy Lidar: CNMI (Aguijan, Rota, Saipan, Tinian)
issued 2022-01-21T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY > BATHYMETRY",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > CORAL REEFS",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > LIDAR",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > LIDAR > LIDAR WAVEFORM",
  "CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN > MICRONESIA > NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS",
  "VERTICAL LOCATION > SEA FLOOR",
  "1 meter - < 10 meters",
  "LIDAR > Light Detection and Ranging",
  "Airplane > Airplane",
  "Geographic Information > Backscatter",
  "Geographic Information > Bathymetry",
  "Geographic Information > LiDAR",
  "Geographic Information > Marine Management Areas",
  "Map Images > Backscatter",
  "Map Images > Bathymetry",
  "Numeric Data Sets > Backscatter",
  "Numeric Data Sets > Bathymetry",
  "Numeric Data Sets > Benthic",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Saipan Island > Chalan Kanoa (15N145E0012)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Saipan Island > Saipan Island (15N145E0002)",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > GIS",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping > Habitat Mapping",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Backscatter",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Bathymetry",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Rugosity",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Slope",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography >Water Depth",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Habitats",
  "NCCOS Research Data Type > Derived Data Product",
  "NCCOS Research Data Type > Field Observation",
  "NCCOS Research Data Type > Geospatial",
  "NCCOS Research Priority > Marine Spatial Ecology",
  "NCCOS Research Topic > Habitat Mapping",
  "NCCOS Research Location > Region > International",
  "NCCOS Research Location > Region > Pacific Ocean",
  "NCCOS Research Location > U.S. States and Territories > Mariana Islands > Saipan",
  "HABITAT - BENTHIC",
  "NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Northern Mariana Islands > Saipan > Chalan Kanoa (15N145E0012)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Northern Mariana Islands > Saipan > Saipan Island (15N145E0002)",
  "VERTICAL LOCATION > SEA FLOOR",
  "Hawkeye-4X topo-bathymetric lidar",
  "Reims F406 - ZK-XLF",
  "DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "Biogeography"
]
landingPage https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/71943
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2024-01-16T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
rights otherRestrictions, unclassified
spatial 145.837466,15.085512,145.605473,15.294146
temporal 2019-07-11T00:00:00+00:00/2019-08-21T00:00:00+00:00
title 2019 NOAA Bathymetric Lidar with Waveform Metrics: Saipan, CNMI

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