Gulf of Maine - Control Points Used to Validate the Accuracies of the Interpolated Water Density Rasters

This feature dataset contains the control points used to validate the accuracies of the interpolated water density rasters for the Gulf of Maine. These control points were selected randomly from the water density data points, using Hawth's Create Random Selection Tool. Twenty-five percent of each seasonal bin (for each year and at each depth) were randomly selected and set aside for validation. For example, if there were 1,000 water density data points for the fall (September, October, November) 2003 at 0 meters, then 250 of those points were randomly selected, removed and set aside to assess the accuracy of interpolated surface. The naming convention of the validation point feature class includes the year (or years), the season, and the depth (in meters) it was selected from. So for example, the name: ValidationPoints_1997_2004_Fall_0m would indicate that this point feature class was randomly selected from water density points that were at 0 meters in the fall between 1997-2004. The seasons were defined using the same months as the remote sensing data--namely, Fall = September, October, November; Winter = December, January, February; Spring = March, April, May; and Summer = June, July, August.

This data was created in order to support a biogeographic assessment of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

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These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA can not assume liability for and damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.

Please contact the Stellwagen Banks NMS Research Coordinator for additional information on data access (david.wiley@noaa.gov);

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None. Acknowledgement of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Biogeography Program and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.1.0.722

The spatial distribution of water density measurements varied between seasonal and yearly bins.

The accuracy of these interpolated water density rasters were validated. In order to do so, 25% of the water density measurements were set aside before the interpolation. After the interpolation, the corresponding validation points were intersected with the interpolated rasters to calculate a simple difference between the observed (validation points) and the predicted (interpolated surface) measurement. These validation points and values are located in the Water_Stratification_Points geodatabase, Validation_Points feature data set.