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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)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 29, 2026 | Last Modified: 2023-12-21T00:00:00.000+00:00
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 <30 m depths) to 1000 square meters (in moderate 30 to 150 m depths) to 5,000 square meters (in deep >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.

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0285904 BENTHIC COMMUNITIES biological data CORAL HABITAT - BENTHIC REEF AND/OR BOTTOM REGIME - PERCENT COVER camera LIDAR multibeam sonar photograph biological GIS product in situ model output NOAA Ship Nancy Foster NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) CORAL REEF STUDIES Caribbean Sea oceanography 7-Seas-Ltd Coast Works US DOC; NOAA; NOS; Office for Coastal Management US DOI; US Geological Survey DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce Benthic Habitat Mapping for Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix Geographic Information > Backscatter Geographic Information > Bathymetry Geographic Information > Deep Coral Locations Geographic Information > Habitats Geographic Information > LiDAR Geographic Information > Marine Management Areas Geographic Information > Reef Locations Map Images > Aerial Photographs Map Images > Habitats Numeric Data Sets > Habitats EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Benthic Habitat EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Deep-water corals EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping > Habitat Mapping EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Photographic Analysis EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Photographic Analysis > Videography EARTH SCIENCE > Mapping > Base map > Aerial Photography EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Bathymetry EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Benthic biology EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Coral Cover EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS > CORAL REEFS Marine Spatial Ecology > Habitat Mapping Derived Data Product Field Observation Geospatial Benthic Habitat Maps Imagery Training and Validation Data remotely sensed CAMERA > CAMERA LIDAR > Light Detection and Ranging MBES > Multibeam Mapping System aerial multispectral camera light detection and ranging multibeam echosounder underwater multispectral cameras Ships NANCY FOSTER (call sign: WTER, ICES code: 33NF, 2004-) Ronald H. Brown (call sign: WTEC, ICES code: 33RO, 1997-) NOAA ship Nancy Foster NOAA ship Ronald Brown COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island (17N064W0006) COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island Reef (17N064W0001) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Buck Island > Buck Island (17N064W0006) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island Reef (17N064W0001) OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > CARIBBEAN SEA U.S. States and Territories > U.S. Virgin Islands Waterbodies > Caribbean Sea Buck Island Reef National Monument Saint Croix 64KUE6

Complete Metadata
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description 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 <30 m depths) to 1000 square meters (in moderate 30 to 150 m depths) to 5,000 square meters (in deep >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.
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identifier gov.noaa.nodc:0285904
issued 2023-12-05T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "0285904",
  "BENTHIC COMMUNITIES",
  "biological data",
  "CORAL",
  "HABITAT - BENTHIC",
  "REEF AND/OR BOTTOM REGIME - PERCENT COVER",
  "camera",
  "LIDAR",
  "multibeam sonar",
  "photograph",
  "biological",
  "GIS product",
  "in situ",
  "model output",
  "NOAA Ship Nancy Foster",
  "NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown",
  "NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science",
  "NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science",
  "Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)",
  "CORAL REEF STUDIES",
  "Caribbean Sea",
  "oceanography",
  "7-Seas-Ltd",
  "Coast Works",
  "US DOC; NOAA; NOS; Office for Coastal Management",
  "US DOI; US Geological Survey",
  "DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "Benthic Habitat Mapping for Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix",
  "Geographic Information > Backscatter",
  "Geographic Information > Bathymetry",
  "Geographic Information > Deep Coral Locations",
  "Geographic Information > Habitats",
  "Geographic Information > LiDAR",
  "Geographic Information > Marine Management Areas",
  "Geographic Information > Reef Locations",
  "Map Images > Aerial Photographs",
  "Map Images > Habitats",
  "Numeric Data Sets > Habitats",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Benthic Habitat",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Deep-water corals",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping > Habitat Mapping",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Photographic Analysis",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Photographic Analysis > Videography",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Mapping > Base map > Aerial Photography",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography > Bathymetry",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Benthic biology",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Coral Cover",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS > CORAL REEFS",
  "Marine Spatial Ecology > Habitat Mapping",
  "Derived Data Product",
  "Field Observation",
  "Geospatial",
  "Benthic Habitat Maps",
  "Imagery",
  "Training and Validation Data",
  "remotely sensed",
  "CAMERA > CAMERA",
  "LIDAR > Light Detection and Ranging",
  "MBES > Multibeam Mapping System",
  "aerial multispectral camera",
  "light detection and ranging",
  "multibeam echosounder",
  "underwater multispectral cameras",
  "Ships",
  "NANCY FOSTER (call sign: WTER, ICES code: 33NF, 2004-)",
  "Ronald H. Brown (call sign: WTEC, ICES code: 33RO, 1997-)",
  "NOAA ship Nancy Foster",
  "NOAA ship Ronald Brown",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island (17N064W0006)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island Reef (17N064W0001)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Buck Island > Buck Island (17N064W0006)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > St. Croix > Buck Island Reef (17N064W0001)",
  "OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > CARIBBEAN SEA",
  "U.S. States and Territories > U.S. Virgin Islands",
  "Waterbodies > Caribbean Sea",
  "Buck Island Reef National Monument",
  "Saint Croix",
  "64KUE6"
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landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2023-12-21T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/benthic-habitat-mapping-buck-island-reef-national-monument-st-croix/",
  "https://maps.coastalscience.noaa.gov/biomapper/biomapper.html?id=BUIS",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/858",
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  "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013969",
  "https://doi.org/10.1890/06-0536",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/421",
  "https://doi.org/10.1080/01490410802053617",
  "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-009-0531-7",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/493",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/566",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/669",
  "https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/543"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial -64.5562588,17.7698818,-64.6880095,17.8470072
temporal 2004-02-18T00:00:00+00:00/2011-08-30T00:00:00+00:00
title Benthic Habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands, 2004-02-18 to 2011-08-30 (NCEI Accession 0285904)

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