12596 Optical Validation Project Published / External 12594 PIFSC CRED Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC) Metadata Catalog Project In Work Except for very small areas, it is not logistically feasible to optically image more than a small fraction of the seafloor deeper than about 30 m within a coral reef ecosystem using any technology currently available. Accordingly, optical imagery of the seafloor is collected primarily to ground truth or validate the interpretation of benthic habitat characteristics from bathymetry, backscatter imagery, or other data. To date, optical data have been collected using two different types of systems. In shallow waters, at depths between a few meters and 20?30 m, towboard divers with the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center?s Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) collect video or still imagery while being towed behind a small boat over track lines pre-programmed into a handheld GPS unit. However, the majority of seafloor in most Pacific coral reef ecosystems is deeper than the approximately 30 m maximum depth attainable by standard CRED towboarding methods. For these deeper areas an evolving series of underwater camera sleds, usually referred to as the Towed Optical Assessment Device (TOAD), have been used to acquire optical validation data. These data provide optical observations that will be correlated with bathymetry and acoustic backscatter imagery to develop benthic habitat maps for selected US locations in the Pacific. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Honolulu HI USA Data Steward 2006 Person Lichowski, Frances frances.lichowski@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5476 Email preferred Distributor 2007 Person Akridge, Michael W michael.akridge@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5483 Email preferred Metadata Contact 2007 Person Akridge, Michael W michael.akridge@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5483 Email preferred Originator 2002 Organization Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center PIFSC pifsc.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/02apffz65 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA 808-725-5360 https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Online Resource 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Point of Contact 2010 Person Rooney, John JB john.rooney@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5438 Email preferred Ground Condition 144.44 -156.6797 28.4207 -14.37157 Continuing 2001-09-13 http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc/ Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC) website. 33579 Data Set gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:12596 Annette DesRochers 2012-07-12T20:28:57 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2025-12-03T01:00:28 2015-12-31 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center PIFSC 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA 808-725-5300 https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 1001 Public No 2015-12-31 1 Year 2016-12-31