USVI 2011, Ground Validation ROV Transect Points, NOAA Ship Nancy Foster

This shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and/or video that were collected by NOAA scientists using a Spectrum Phantom S2 ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Photos and/or video were collected between 03/28/2011 and 04/16/2011 along 50 transects (please note that dive 26 was aborted) south of St. John and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and east of Vieques, Puerto Rico. These photos and 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).

The objective of this ground validation (GV) effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Biogeography Branch, in collaboration with multiple federal, state, territory, academic and private sector partners, was to acquire spatially-explicit information about the geomorphological structure, biological cover and live coral cover of the seafloor in the U.S. Caribbean. Extensive field work is needed to create high-quality benthic habitat maps because it enhances the accuracy of habitat attribution and (to a lesser degree) habitat delineation. Consequently, ground validation locations were targeted by the cartographer to satisfy the following objectives: (1) Explore features in the imagery with unknown or confusing acoustic signatures; (2) Confirm that the habitat type correlated with a particular acoustic signature remained consistent throughout the entire study area. This information will be incorporated into a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of marine habitats in the U.S. Caribbean.

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Please cite NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA/Biogeography Branch when using this dataset.