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National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (CCMA)
Weekly Report – January 23, 2008
Benthic Habitat Maps Support Development of Biological Monitoring in Hawaii
Digital maps and an atlas of the seafloor and coral reef habitats for the main Hawaiian Islands were recently completed by the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment researchers. These products will serve as a key piece to support local monitoring strategies across the islands and ultimately assess the effectiveness of marine protected areas in Hawaii. The maps and geospatial data were developed in cooperation with NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program and several partners in Hawaii. The study reveals that the percentage of live coral cover is greatest on the island of Hawaii at 57 percent, and lowest surrounding Niihau and Kaula at only 4 percent. The maps, data, and associated information are available online for download at http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/hawaii_cd_07/welcome.html. For more information, contact Tim Battista at (301) 713-3028 x171 or Tim.Battista@noaa.gov.
Significance: The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force charged NOAA with the development and implementation of a plan to produce comprehensive digital coral reef ecosystem maps for all U.S. States, Territories, and Pacific Freely Associated states. To date, NOAA has completed mapping efforts in eight jurisdictions (American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Main Hawaiian Islands, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, Republic of Palau, and US Virgin Islands).
New Seafloor Data Enable Mapping of Shallow-Water Coral Ecosystems to Support Local Coastal Resource Managers
Scientists from the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA), in collaboration with the National Weather Service, National Geophysical Data Center, and Office of Coast Survey, completed airborne digital mapping of shallow-water coral ecosystems of southwest Puerto Rico. In addition to measuring ocean depth, innovative new processing techniques were developed to also discern seafloor habitat composition (e.g., feature hardness and roughness) providing a new capability to map shallow-water coral ecosystems. Data were collected to 50 meters water depth encompassing 265 square nautical miles. These data were collected for NOAA by Tenix LADS, Corporation using an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system. The data can be accessed at http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/products/biogeography/lidar_pr/. For more information, contact Tim Battista at (301) 713-3028 x171 or Tim.Battista@noaa.gov or Lisa Taylor at (303) 407-6767 or Lisa.A.Taylor@noaa.gov.
Significance: These data were collected under the purview of NOAA's commitment to Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping in which a single data collection can be used to simultaneously support multiple mission requirements. Data collected from this mission meet NOAA's nautical charting requirements, enhance NOAA’s tsunami inundation modeling and forecasting capability, and improve NOAA’s ability to map and delineate seafloor habitats in tropical marine environments.