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    • Benthic Cover from Automated Annotation of Benthic Images Collected at Coral Reef Sites in the Pacific Remote Island Areas and American Samoa in 2018

    Metadata Updated: December 13, 2025

    The coral reef benthic community data described here result from the automated annotation (classification) of benthic images collected during photoquadrat surveys conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD, formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) as part of NOAA's ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). SCUBA divers conducted benthic photoquadrat surveys in coral reef habitats according to protocols established by ESD and NCRMP during the ESD-led NCRMP mission to the islands and atolls of the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA) and American Samoa from June 8 to August 11, 2018. Still photographs were collected with a high-resolution digital camera mounted on a pole to document the benthic community composition at predetermined points along transects at stratified random sites surveyed only once as part of Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys for corals and fish and permanent sites established by ESD and resurveyed every ~3 years for climate change monitoring. Overall, 30 photoquadrat images were collected at each survey site.

    The benthic habitat images were quantitatively analyzed using the web-based, machine-learning, image annotation tool, CoralNet (https://coralnet.ucsd.edu; Beijbom et al. 2015). Ten points were randomly overlaid on each image and the machine-learning algorithm "robot" identified the organism or type of substrate beneath, with 300 annotations (points) generated per site. Benthic elements falling under each point were identified to functional group (Tier 1: hard coral, soft coral, sessile invertebrate, macroalgae, crustose coralline algae, and turf algae) for coral, algae, invertebrates, and other taxa following Lozada-Misa et al. (2017). These benthic data can ultimately be used to produce estimates of community composition, relative abundance (percentage of benthic cover), and frequency of occurrence.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date December 3, 2025
    Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date December 13, 2025
    Reference Date(s) 2019-09 (creation), 2019 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NMFS PIFSC

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date December 3, 2025
    Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date December 13, 2025
    Reference Date(s) 2019-09 (creation), 2019 (publication)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:57610
    Access Constraints Cite As: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: Benthic Cover from Automated Annotation of Benthic Images Collected at Coral Reef Sites in the Pacific Remote Island Areas and American Samoa in 2018 [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/57610., Access Constraints: None, Use Constraints: Please cite PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) when using the data. Example: Ecosystem Sciences Division; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, 2019: Benthic Cover from Automated Annotation of Benthic Images Collected at Coral Reef Sites in the Pacific Remote Island Areas and American Samoa in 2018, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/57610., Distribution Liability: While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.
    Bbox East Long -159.971695
    Bbox North Lat 6.451465
    Bbox South Lat -0.382607
    Bbox West Long -176.626077
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded
    Harvest Object Id e1f1424f-3b8b-415c-a436-9f160d7d0e89
    Harvest Source Id c0beac72-5f43-4455-8c33-1b345fbc2dfe
    Harvest Source Title NMFS PIFSC
    Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
    Lineage Protocol describing the automated annotation of benthic images to generate benthic community data. Still photographs (30 per survey site) collected during photoquadrat surveys at random and permanent sites in coral reef habitats by the PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division were later annotated by a human-trained robot in CoralNet.
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-176.626077, -0.382607], [-159.971695, -0.382607], [-159.971695, 6.451465], [-176.626077, 6.451465], [-176.626077, -0.382607]]]}
    Progress onGoing
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2018-06-08
    Temporal Extent End 2018-06-15

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