Ecological Marine Units: Water Quality

A compilation of ocean water quality (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen) 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 temperature (degrees Celsius), salinity (practical salinity units), or dissolved oxygen (mg/L). Values 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 ocean planning activities pursuant to the Executive Order Regarding the Ocean Policy to Advance the Economic, Security, and Environmental Interests of the United States, the Energy Policy Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

https://www.marinecadastre.gov/about/disclaimer.html

For coastal and ocean planning

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.