Chesapeake Bay 2016 ESI Parks and Managed Areas for Oil Spill Sensitivity

2016 vector data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) characterizing human-use resources in the Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Coasts of Maryland and Virginia. The dataset contains polygons and points depicting parks, military installations, wildlife refuges, and other managed areas as part of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for oil spill planning. ESI data characterize marine and coastal environments by their sensitivity to spilled oil.

Use Cases

• Map sensitive human-use areas for oil spill contingency planning based on the listed park and refuge locations.
• Analyze spatial distribution of managed lands for coastal zone management based on the polygon and point features.
• Integrate human-use resource layers with biological and shoreline habitat data for comprehensive environmental sensitivity assessment.
• Identify military and National Guard unit locations for emergency response coordination based on the point data.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.
• Includes multiple human-use resource categories: parks, military installations, wildlife refuges, and research reserves.
• Contains both polygon and point vector data for different feature types.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from 2016; conditions may have changed, requiring verification of current boundaries.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely compiled for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program.

Time Range

2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:28:39.094572; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Coasts of Maryland and Virginia, North Atlantic Ocean.