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NCCOS Mapping: Bathymetric Lidar Waveform Metrics for Saipan, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), 2019-07-11 to 2019-07-31 (NCEI Accession 0294340)

Metadata Updated: October 2, 2025

This data package contains bathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) Hawkeye-4X waveforms metrics (LWFM) 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. 2024; 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 Hawkeye-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.

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.

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Dates

Metadata Date 2025-05-16T15:34:44Z
Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 2, 2025
Reference Date(s) June 29, 2024 (publication)
Frequency Of Update asNeeded

Metadata Source

Harvested from NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions

Graphic Preview

Preview graphic

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date 2025-05-16T15:34:44Z
Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 2, 2025
Reference Date(s) June 29, 2024 (publication)
Responsible Party (Point of Contact)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.nodc:0294340
Access Constraints Cite as: Costa, Bryan; Jung, Jaehoon; Parrish, Christopher; Sweeney, Edward (2024). NCCOS Mapping: Bathymetric Lidar Waveform Metrics for Saipan, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), 2019-07-11 to 2019-07-31 (NCEI Accession 0294340). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25921/kwhk-bw94. 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 145.8531463
Bbox North Lat 15.310783
Bbox South Lat 15.066787
Bbox West Long 145.5872432
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:0294340
Graphic Preview Type PNG
Harvest Object Id 2cb0b8a2-b30f-49e9-9ba9-32703b1d9977
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": [[[145.5872432, 15.066787], [145.8531463, 15.066787], [145.8531463, 15.310783], [145.5872432, 15.310783], [145.5872432, 15.066787]]]}
Progress completed
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 2019-07-11
Temporal Extent End 2019-07-31

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