This geographic zone map was created by interpreting satellite and aerial imagery, seafloor topography (bathymetry model), and the new NEPR Benthic Habitat Map (2015). The area of interest includes the nearshore shallow waters (0-35m) of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. A zone refers to each benthic community's geographic location and geomorphological structure. The geographic zone map was manually digitized the shoreline and the zone features for the entire area of interest in ArcGIS at the 1:6000 scale. The map was classified into 12 geographic zones based on the schema that has been developed by the Biogeography Branch, and which also match the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS).

This project is a cooperative effort among the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment; the United States Geological Survey; the National Park Service; and the National Geophysical Data Center. The goal of this work was to develop coral reef mapping methods and compare the accuracy of benthic habitat maps generated from on-screen digitizing off of georeferenced color aerial photography, with maps digitized directly from hard copy photographs using a stereoplotter. Thematic accuracy of the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands habitat maps was evaluated for the three most general habitat categories: unconsolidated sediment, submerged vegetation, and coral reef/hard bottom. Accuracy was estimated at two locations within the project area that included the full complement of habitat types, depth ranges, and water conditions representative of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For this reason, the accuracy of maps measured at these two locations is assumed to be representative of map accuracy elsewhere in the project area. This approach, which focused in two small areas, enabled a statistically robust evaluation of thematic accuracy to be conducted without the logistic difficulty of collecting data for accuracy assessment over the entire project area.Comparison with the accuracy assessment data revealed very similar levels of thematic accuracy between the two maps. Overall accuracy was 93.6 percent (Kappa 0.93). Maps produced from on-screen digitizing were almost 100 percent accurate for the submerged vegetation and unconsolidated sediment categories but misclassified a small percentage of hardbottom sites as unconsolidated sediment. Similarly, the maps produced using the stereoplotter were 100 percent accurate at classifying submerged vegetation but misclassified a small percentage of hardbottom and unconsolidated sediment sites. These findings suggest that both of these mapping techniques result in acceptable levels of thematic accuracy for maps produced at this scale with this type of classification scheme.

This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in shallow water (0-35m) benthic habitats surrounding Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island. The area includes the nearshore waters of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. The Accuracy Assessment data contains GPS-positioned underwater photo/videos of selected benthic habitats that were used to assess the accuracy of the benthic habitat polygons created by the Biogeography Team. The observations from the videos are used to rate the amount of error in the polygons that delineate habitat features. The AA data was collected in September 3 – 15, 2014. The field work was conducted by NOAA together with local DRNA and NOAA contractors.

Shallow-water (<30m) benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of two areas in Southwest Puerto Rico (PR), including the Guanica Bay/La Parguera region on the south coast and the Belvedere reserve on the west coast, were mapped and characterized using visual interpretation of optical and acoustic remotely sensed imagery. The objective was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of the region’s coral reef ecosystem. These maps will be used to support marine resource management and conservation in the Commonwealth. In addition, the maps will enable change detection in an assessment of the effectiveness of restoration activities on the condition of adjacent coral reef ecosystems. The data contained in this shapefile denote the location of accuracy assessment (AA) sites, which were explored by NOAA field scientists to evaluate the thematic accuracy of the map. In particular, this shapefile includes the location of XXX accuracy assessment sites that were explored either by video drop camera or by snorkel.

This benthic habitat map was created from a semi-automated habitat mapping process, using a combination of bathymetry, satellite imagery, aerial imagery and underwater videos to classify the 0-35m deep benthic habitats of the region around Northeast Puerto Rico (NEPR) and Culebra Island, including the shallow part of the Northeast Ecological Reserves, Puerto Rico. The area of interest includes the nearshore waters of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. The benthic habitat map is classified based: on 1) geomorphological structure, 2) hard bottom cover, 3) topographic complexity, 4) dominant biological cover, 5) live coral cover and 6) dominant type of coral cover. Underwater photo and video data was collected to provide ground validation for remote sensing imagery, and to assess the accuracy t of the final map. Habitat features are described by varying levels of detail (i.e., major and minor categories nested within them), so users can depict the habitat information that best suits their research or management needs.

This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and videos taken in shallow water (0-35m) benthic habitats surrounding Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island. The area includes the nearshore waters of Fajardo and Luqillo to the Former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base, the Vieques Sound, La Cordillera Reserve, the Luis Pena Reserve, and the waters around Culebra Island. The GV data contains GPS-positioned underwater photo/videos of selected benthic habitats that were used to enhance thematic maps created by the Biogeography Team. The observations from the videos are used to classify seafloor features and develop a benthic habitat map. The GV data was collected in July 8 - 24, 2013 and October 22- November 7, 2013. The field work was conducted by NOAA together with local DRNA and NOAA contractors.

This project is a cooperative effort among the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment; the United States Geological Survey; the National Park Service; and the National Geophysical Data Center. The goal of this work was to develop coral reef mapping methods and compare the accuracy of benthic habitat maps generated from on-screen digitizing off of georeferenced color aerial photography, with maps digitized directly from hard copy photographs using a stereoplotter. Thematic accuracy of the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands habitat maps was evaluated for the three most general habitat categories: unconsolidated sediment, submerged vegetation, and coral reef/hard bottom. Accuracy was estimated at two locations within the project area that included the full complement of habitat types, depth ranges, and water conditions representative of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For this reason, the accuracy of maps measured at these two locations is assumed to be representative of map accuracy elsewhere in the project area. This approach, which focused in two small areas, enabled a statistically robust evaluation of thematic accuracy to be conducted without the logistic difficulty of collecting data for accuracy assessment over the entire project area.Comparison with the accuracy assessment data revealed very similar levels of thematic accuracy between the two maps. Overall accuracy was 93.6 percent (Kappa 0.93). Maps produced from on-screen digitizing were almost 100 percent accurate for the submerged vegetation and unconsolidated sediment categories but misclassified a small percentage of hardbottom sites as unconsolidated sediment. Similarly, the maps produced using the stereoplotter were 100 percent accurate at classifying submerged vegetation but misclassified a small percentage of hardbottom and unconsolidated sediment sites. These findings suggest that both of these mapping techniques result in acceptable levels of thematic accuracy for maps produced at this scale with this type of classification scheme.

Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps are an integral component in oil-spill contingency planning and assessment. They serve as a source of information in the event of an oil spill incident.ESI maps contain three types of information: shoreline habitats (classified according to their sensitivity to oiling), sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources. Most often, this information is plotted on 7.5 minute USGS quadrangles, although in the Alaska ESI maps, USGS topographic maps at scales of 1:63,360 and 1:250,000 are used, and in other ESI maps, NOAA charts have been used as the base map. Collections of these maps, grouped by state or a logical geographic area, are published as ESI atlases. Digital data have been published for most of the U.S. shoreline, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

Benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of Vieques, Puerto Rico were created by visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment - Biogeography Branch in partnership with the NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of Vieques' coral reef ecosystem. The data described herein represent accuracy assessment (AA) sites explored by NOAA field scientists to evaluate the thematic accuracy of the benthic habitat maps of Vieques.

There are 208 habitat and zone maps of Puerto Rico and is major islands. This project is a cooperative effort between the National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, the United States Geological Survey, the National Park Service, and the National Geophysical Data Center, to produce benthic habitat maps and georeferenced imagery for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This project was conducted in support of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. Twenty-one distinct benthic habitat types within eight zones were mapped directly into a GIS system using visual interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs. Benthic features were mapped that covered an area of 1600 km^2. In all, 49 km^2 of unconsolidated sediment, 721 km^2 of submerged vegetation, 73 km^2 of mangroves, and 756 km^2 of coral reef and colonized hardbottom were mapped.