Ecological Marine Units: Nutrients

A compilation of ocean nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate concentrations) data at ¼ degree spatial resolution for the entire United States Exclusive Economic Zone. The dataset is derived from the ESRI Ecological Marine Unit (EMU) dataset, which was assembled from non-supervised statistical clustering of over 52 million points from NOAA’s World Ocean Atlas (2013) WoA database, an authoritative 57 year archive of global water column data. This derived dataset is divided into three separate point shapefiles, each representing either nitrate, phosphate, or silicate concentrations (all in units of μmol l-1). Values for nutrient concentrations represent a climatological average. Each shapefile is formatted such that a single point location (i.e., unique associated latitude and longitude) contains a unique column entry for a given depth interval. Depth intervals are variable from 5 m near the surface to 100 m in the deeper regions (> 2000 m) for a total of 102 depth levels. All disclaimers provided by the original dataset authors apply to this derived dataset. For detail on these disclaimers, please refer to the following reference: Sayre, R., J. Dangermond, D. Wright, S. Breyer, K. Butler, K. Van Graafeiland, M.J. Costello, P. Harris, K. Goodin, M. Kavanaugh, N. Cressie, J. Guinotte, Z. Basher, P. Halpin, M. Monaco, P. Aniello, C. Frye, D. Stephens, P. Valentine, J. Smith, R. Smith, D.P. VanSistine, J. Cress, H. Warner, C. Brown, J. Steffenson, D. Cribbs, B. Van Esch, D. Hopkins, G. Noll, S. Kopp, and C. Convis. 2017. A New Map of Global Ecological Marine Units – An Environmental Stratification Approach. Washington, DC: American Association of Geographers. 36 pages.

To support coastal and ocean planning and other activities pursuant to the Energy Policy Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Rivers and Harbors Act and the Submerged Lands Act.

The native coordinate system for this layer is WGS 1984 World Mercator (ESPG: 3395). Please note: all MarineCadastre.gov data served by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management and hosted through Esri REST services are in the WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere (EPSG: 3857) projection.

NOAA makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding the availability, quality, accuracy, content, completeness or suitability for the user's needs of such information. The services, information, and data made available on the Marine Cadastre web site are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. These data are intended for coastal and ocean use planning. Not for navigation. http://www.marinecadastre.gov/about/disclaimer.html

NOAA makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding the availability, quality, accuracy, content, completeness or suitability for the user's needs of such information. The services, information, and data made available on the Marine Cadastre web site are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. These data are intended for coastal and ocean use planning. Not for navigation. http://www.marinecadastre.gov/about/disclaimer.html

Version 6.2 (Build 9200) ; Esri ArcGIS 10.5.1.7333

The attributes in this dataset are believed to be accurate.

Maximum scale of intended use is 1:80,000.

Spatial and attribute properties are believed to be complete, although attribute information has been simplified. Geometric thresholds from original data are preserved. No tests have been completed for exhaustiveness.

These data are believed to be logically consistent. Geometry is topologically clean.