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    • Benthic Habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands, 2004-02-18 to 2011-08-30 (NCEI Accession 0285904)

    Metadata Updated: December 1, 2025

    This data package contains information about the geology and biology of the seafloor from approximately 0 to 1,830 meters in Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM) St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). It was created by delineating habitats visible in aerial photographs, lidar and multibeam echosounder imagery using ENVI's Feature Extraction (Fx) Module. The minimum polygon size for these habitat maps ranged from 100 square meters (in shallow 150 m depths). Additional habitat polygons were manually digitized if they were excluded during the feature extraction workflow. Polygon boundaries were smoothed in ArcGIS to reduce their pixelated appearance. A Classification and Regression Tree (CART) algorithm was used to classify each habitat polygon using georeferenced underwater video & photos collected using SCUBA divers, drop-cameras and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Major and detailed geomorphological structure, percent hardbottom, major and detailed biological cover and live coral cover were identified for each polygon. The moderate and deep maps mark the first time that habitats deeper than approximately 30 meters have been mapped in the Monument. These habitat maps will provide a baseline for future biological monitoring studies in BIRNM.

    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 2025-05-16T15:36:25Z
    Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date December 1, 2025
    Reference Date(s) December 21, 2023 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Preview graphic

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date 2025-05-16T15:36:25Z
    Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date December 1, 2025
    Reference Date(s) December 21, 2023 (publication)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nodc:0285904
    Access Constraints Cite as: Costa, Bryan; Tormey, Sam; Battista, Timothy A. (2023). Benthic Habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands, 2004-02-18 to 2011-08-30 (NCEI Accession 0285904). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25921/vz7r-kc55. Accessed [date]., Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
    Bbox East Long -64.5562588
    Bbox North Lat 17.8470072
    Bbox South Lat 17.7698818
    Bbox West Long -64.6880095
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded
    Graphic Preview Description Preview graphic
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/gfx?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0285904
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Harvest Object Id 6aa44662-1fe6-46c3-b6e1-058078bddb8a
    Harvest Source Id c084a438-6f6b-470d-93e0-16aeddb9f513
    Harvest Source Title NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions
    Licence accessLevel: Public
    Lineage
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-64.6880095, 17.7698818], [-64.5562588, 17.7698818], [-64.5562588, 17.8470072], [-64.6880095, 17.8470072], [-64.6880095, 17.7698818]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2004-02-18
    Temporal Extent End 2011-08-30

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