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Ground Validation Drop Camera Transect Points - St. Thomas/ St. John USVI - 2011

Published by National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 19, 2025 | Last Modified: 2011-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
This shapefile denotes the location of underwater video that was collected by NOAA scientists using a SeaViewer drop camera system. Video were collected between 03/28/2011 and 04/16/2011 at locations within two selected areas of seafloor south of St. Thomas and St. John, USVI and east of Vieques, Puerto Rico. These videos will be manually classified into different habitat classes, and integrated with the abiotic data collected by the acoustic SoNAR (sound navigation and ranging) systems to develop a benthic habitat map for the U.S. Caribbean. Habitat maps describe the location of habitat features (in relation to the shoreline), their physical composition and the types of organisms that colonize them. Fundamentally, habitat maps provide critical information about the extent, health and composition of marine resources, which is vital for communicating information about the distribution and abundance of species to resource managers, scientists and the public. Habitat maps also support an increasing number of landscape ecology studies, as well as the process of marine spatial planning, including the design and evaluation of marine protected areas (MPAs).

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Geographic Information > Habitats EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Mapping > Habitat Mapping COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Puerto Rico > Culebra Island (18N066W0002) COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Puerto Rico > Vieques > Vieques Island (18N065W0002) COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. John > St. John (18N064W0011) COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > St. Thomas > St. Thomas (18N064W0033) COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > U. S. Virgin Islands > U. S. Virgin Islands > U. S. Virgin Islands (17N064W0000) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Puerto Rico > Culebra Island (18N066W0002) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Puerto Rico > Vieques Island > Vieques Island (18N065W0002) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Leeward Islands > St. Thomas (18N064W0033) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Lesser Antilles > U. S. Virgin Islands (17N064W0000) OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea > Virgin Islands > Virgin Islands > St. John (18N064W0011) benthic habitats biological cover coral reef geomorphological structure ground validation reef submerged aquatic vegetation transect unconsolidated sediments zone Culebra Island St. John St. Thomas US Virgin Islands USVI Vieques Island DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce SeafloorMapping_USCaribbean_2004toOngoing

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