NCCOS Assessment: Underwater Video for Ground Validation and Accuracy Assessment of Benthic Habitat Maps of the Insular Shelf South of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, 2010-03-20 to 2017-02-10

The presence and absence of the four substrate and four biological cover types were documented at 1,353 locations on the insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John. At each location, an underwater camera system was used to collect high definition (HD) video at 30 frames per second at 1080x1920 resolution. This GIS dataset depicts the location of these underwater videos, as well as the name, location, time collected, and the presence and absence of the substrate and cover types. A portion of these underwater videos (n=1,005) were used to develop the habitat predictions and the composite habitat map. A separate subset of these underwater videos (n=348) were used to assess the performance of the habitat predictions and accuracy of the composite habitat map.

For more details, see Costa et al. 2017 and Costa et al. 2018.

Keywords: Ground Validation; Accuracy Assessment; Acropora Cervicornis; Acropora Palmata; Bathymetry; Benthic Habitat; Coastal Ocean Science; Coral Reef; Insular Shelf; Seagrass; Seaviewer; Snorkel; Trimble GeoXH; Underwater Video.

The insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) is an expansive geomorphologic feature with extensive mesophotic coral reefs occurring at 30 to 150 meter depths. These mesophotic reefs are part of a broader coral reef community in the U.S. Caribbean that provide a wide range of ecosystem goods and services estimated to provide $187 million per year (in 2007 US dollars) to local communities. While these reefs provide great economic value to local communities, they are increasingly under threat from multiple human-caused stressors, making it critical for the USVI and Puerto Rico jurisdictions to find ways to preserve and sustainably manage them. Ideally, the first step in any marine management process is to comprehensively map and inventory the location of coral reef resources. The geographic information system (GIS) layers and products provided in this report represent the first complete habitat map for the insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John. These products also represent the culmination of an extensive seafloor mapping campaign conducted by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) in collaboration with regional partners.

Cited Publications:

Costa, B., L.M. Kracker, T. Battista, W. Sautter, A. Mabrouk, K. Edwards, C. Taylor, and E. Ebert. 2017. Benthic Habitat Maps for the Insular Shelf South of St. Thomas and St. John. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 241. Silver Spring, MD. 59 pp. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-241

Costa, B., L. Kracker, T. Battista, W. Sautter, A. Mabrouk, K. Edwards, C. Taylor, and E. Ebert. 2018. NCCOS Assessment: Benthic Habitat Map for the Insular Shelf South of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (NCEI Accession 0170098). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5930RFV

Collaborators: Will Sautter, Dr. Ayman Mabrouk, Kimberly Edwards, Arliss Winship (US DOC; NOAA; NOS; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science). Kevin McCartney (CrewZen VI Charters). Lance Horn, Glen Taylor (University of North Carolina at Wilmington Undersea Vehicles Program).

Partner Entities: NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aircraft Operations (OMAO) NOAA ship Nancy Foster. University of North Carolina at Wilmington Undersea Vehicles Program.

Base Funding: US DOC; NOAA; NOS; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), NCCOS Project #284, “Benthic Habitat Maps of the Insular Shelf South of St. Thomas and St. John.”

Other Funding: US DOC; NOAA; NOS; Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). Other Project: CRCP Project #30081, “Benthic Habitat Maps of the Insular Shelf South of St. Thomas and St. John.”

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For details of data quality control methods, see Costa et al. 2017. All users should independently analyze the dataset according to their own needs and standards to determine data usability.