Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard Version 3 (CMECS III) - Coastal Habitat Mapping

This project evaluates the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard Version 3 (CMECS III) mapping system (FGDC 2010) for mapping coastal habitat in Southeast Alaska. A pilot mapping project was conducted on ~60 km of shoreline in Sitka Sound, Alaska, where previously collected, oblique aerial videography and photography was used to delineate CMECS III habitat features for the pilot. The CMECS III habitat features are represented as lines features, created by segmenting the digital high water line. Existing low-tide, georeferenced aerial coastal videography provided the base mapping information. Georeferenced coastal imagery was interpreted by coastal geomorphologists and coastal ecologists.

This pilot attempts to answer a number of questions about the CMECS III classifications system as applied as a mapping system. In particular, it evaluates the efficacy of CMECS compared to the ShoreZone system, which has been widely used in the Pacific NW. We provide a comparison in terms of the mapping methodology and data products as well as the degree of ecological characterization.