These data are a collection of benthic habitat data from studies conducted in the Catlett and Goodwin Islands on the York River in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia in GIS shapefile (.shp, .dbf, .shx, and .prj files) with associated Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Generalized browse graphics were generated by the NODC and are included with the data. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the NOAA Coastal Services Center (now the NOAA Office for Coastal Management) utilized the acoustic, grab, and SPI information (collected in 2002, 2003, and 2004) to characterize benthic habitats by Catlett and Goodwin Islands on the York River, and to examine relationships between animal communities and sediment characteristics.

In 2006 and 2007 the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (formerly the Coastal Services Center) purchased services to process existing digital multi-spectral imagery (ADS-40) and create digital benthic habitat data from this imagery for selected Texas coastal bend bays. The Center worked cooperatively with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Texas A and M University Center for Coastal Studies to develop benthic habitat data, primarily Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) for several coastal bays. This data will support the state's recently adopted Seagrass Monitoring Program which calls for regional mapping of SAV for status and trends assessment. The Center, Texas A and M, and TPWD have coordinated on the requirements of this project. Benthic habitat vector data was generated over eight Texas Coast study areas. The geographic extent of these regions is Corpus Christi Bay - app. 356 mi2, Redfish Bay - app. 62 mi2, Aransas Bay - app. 285 mi2, Copano Bay - app. 158 mi2, Lower Laguna Madre - app. 800 mi2, Upper Laguna Madre - app. 313 mi2, Baffin Bay - app. 232 mi2, and San Antonio Bay - app. 370 mi2. Benthic habitat data was generated for all estuarine lands below mean high water within the study area. No benthic data was required for the marine side of the barrier beaches. Data are GIS shapefiles with associated .dbf attribute tables and specific Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata for each study region. A generalized browse graphic was generated at the NODC for each region and included with these data.

These data were collected under a cooperative mapping program between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, and the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. The primary objectives of this program were to collect marine geophysical data to develop a suite of seafloor maps that would better define the extent of oyster habitats and the overall seafloor geology of the bay and provide updated information for management of this resource. In addition to their value for management of the bay's oyster resources, the maps also provide a geologic framework for scientific research and the public. The study focused on the Apalachicola Bay and western St. George Sound portions of the estuary, mostly in depths greater than 2 meters. High-resolution bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and seismic profile data were collected over 230 square kilometers of the bay. The interpretation of sidescan sonar imagery, bathymetry, available sediment sample information, and seafloor observations provided a detailed interpretation of the surficial geology of Apalachicola Bay and western portions of St. George Sound, Florida. The initial surficial geologic interpretations were translated by the Office for Coastal Management into the Florida System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME). No sediment classes were lost during this process. The layers available within the data download include biotic, geoform, and substrate. Partners: United States Geological Survey, Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve

These data are a collection of benthic habitat data from studies conducted in the coastal Long Island Sound, NY region in GIS shapefile (.shp, .dbf, .shx, and .prj files) with associated Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Generalized browse graphics were generated by the NODC and are included with the data. Individual subdirectories include data as follows - 2002 Long Island South Shore Estuary Benthic Habitat Polygon Data Set, 1995 benthic grab, sediment grab, and sediment profile image GIS point data files from inland harbor bays (Jamaica Bay), and 1994-1995 benthic grab, sediment grab, and sediment profile image GIS point data files from lower inland harbor bays.

These data are benthic study GIS shapefiles (.shp, .shx, .prj) with associated .dbf attribute tables and specific Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata. A generalized browse graphic was generated at the NODC and included with these data. The Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) at the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (formerly the Coastal Services Center) partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Wetlands Conservancy Program (DEP-WCP) and Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) to produce a digital coverage of submerged aquatic vegetation, primarily eelgrass (Zostera marina) along the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts. Conventional color metric aerial photography at a scale of 1:20,000 was acquired from 1994-1996 according to stringent parameters detailed in the C-CAP protocol (www.csc.noaa.gov/ccap). The photography was photointerpreted by DEP-WCP using a biocular stereoscope (Cartographic Engineering Modular Stereoscope Model SB 190). Polygons of eelgrass were delineated onto acetate overlays affixed to each photograph. Extensive fieldwork was conducted to develop signatures and gather surface level data where the presence or extent of habitat was not apparent from the photography. An underwater video camera was utilized in this effort. The aerial photos, with the interpreted acetates attached, were scanned using a photogrammetric quality scanner (AGFA Horizon Plus) at a resolution of 600 dpi resulting in a pixel resolution of .85 meters. The resulting image file was rectified (bilinear 2nd order) by C-CAP to 1 meter black and white and color digital orthophotos supplied by CZM. The polygon delineation from the rectified image was then digitized onscreen. In addition, a point file was generated based on field-verified sites as well as all occurrences of widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) and algae. The rectification and digitization was completed utilizing the ERDAS Imagine software package. The benthic data is classified according to the System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME). This system is fully described in Development of a System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) for Florida, Report to U.S. EPA - Gulf of Mexico Program, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Marine Research Institute. Review Draft 12/04/02. The polygon vector coverage was accuracy assessed by C-CAP and DEP-WCP in July 1997 and September 1998. The assessment was based on random points generated within the polygon boundaries. Navigation to each point in the field was accomplished using real time differential GPS. The underwater video camera was used to verify the presence of the mapped feature at the random point. The accuracy of the mapped grass was 85.4 percent (175 of 205 sites mapped correct).

Maine's eelgrass (SAV) meadows form an important aquatic habitat for the state. These meadows provide shelter for juvenile fish, and invertebrates. In certain locations they also help stabilize unconsolidated sediments and shorelines. Maine's Department of Marine Resources has mapped the SAV habitat for the entire coast using the Coastal Change Analysis Protocol. This mapping was accomplished from aerial photography acquired between 1993 and 1997. The unified coastal SAV data set is a composite of these multiple year data. These data are in GIS shapefile format (.shp, .dbf, .shx, and .prj files) with associated metadata. And additional subdirectory contains data collected from the Wells, Maine region (York and Webhannet rivers in southern Maine) in 2001 and includes benthic data, sediment grab data, and sediment profile image data. Sample browse graphics of select attributes were generated at the NODC and included in this accession. The benthic data is classified according to the System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME). This system is fully described in Development of a System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) for Florida, Report to U.S. EPA - Gulf of Mexico Program, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Marine Research Institute. Review Draft 12/04/02.

These data are benthic study GIS shapefiles (.shp, .shx, .prj) with associated .dbf attribute tables and specific Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata. A generalized browse graphic was generated at the NODC and included with these data. The data were developed to support ecosystem based management in the Humboldt Bay region. The focus of the mapping was on shallow water benthic habitats with particular concern for eelgrass meadows. The study area covers Arcata (North) Bay, Entrance Bay, South Bay and the Eel River Delta, Humboldt County, California.

The Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the NOAA Office for Coastal Management worked together to map benthic habitats within Apalachicola Bay, Florida. The bay and the lower portions of four distributaries were surveyed on 11-22 October 1999 using three benthic sampling techniques. This data set represents the information gathered from a RoxAnn acoustic sensor. The instrument was used to characterize bottom type by extracting data on bottom roughness and bottom hardness from the primary and secondary sounder echoes. The data is classified on-the-fly, using the Sediment Profile Images and grab samples collected for field validation, and subject to a post-processing classification. The RoxAnn data points were exported into a geographic information system (GIS) and post-processed to remove unreliable data points and re-classified. This data set is comprised of the cleaned, attributed point data. The attributes include location, date, time, depth, field derived classification, and the classification derived from post-processing the data. Original contact information: Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management Phone: 843-740-1202 Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov

These data were collected under a cooperative mapping program between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management (NOAA\OCM), and the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). The primary objectives of this program were to collect marine geophysical data to develop a suite of seafloor maps to better define the extent of oyster habitats, the overall seafloor geology of the bay and provide updated information for management of this resource. In addition to their value for management of the bay's oyster resources, the maps also provide a geologic framework for scientific research and the public. High-resolution bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and seismic profile data were collected over 230 square kilometers of the floor of the bay. The study focused on the Apalachicola Bay and Western St. George Sound portions of the estuary in mostly in depths > 2.0 meters. Original contact information: Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management Phone: 843-740-1202 Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov

These data were collected under a cooperative mapping program between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management (NOAA\OCM), and the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). The primary objectives of this program were to collect marine geophysical data to develop a suite of seafloor maps to better define the extent of oyster habitats, the overall seafloor geology of the bay and provide updated information for management of this resource. In addition to their value for management of the bay's oyster resources, the maps also provide a geologic framework for scientific research and the public. High-resolution bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and seismic profile data were collected over 230 square kilometers of the floor of the bay. The study focused on the Apalachicola Bay and Western St. George Sound portions of the estuary in mostly in depths > 2.0 meters. Original contact information: Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management Phone: 843-740-1202 Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov