Lake Ontario 2023 ESI Hydrography: Shoreline and Water Polygons and Lines

Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) vector data for the U.S. portion of Lake Ontario, created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The dataset includes hydrography polygons (HYDROP) and lines (HYDROL) classifying shoreline and water areas by their susceptibility to oiling. The study area covers specific islands and major bays within Lake Ontario in New York State.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal oil spill impact zones based on shoreline susceptibility classifications.
• Mapping hydrographic features for environmental planning based on the delineated land and water polygons.
• Assessing habitat sensitivity for conservation efforts based on the ESI's characterization of marine and coastal environments.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.
• Specific geographic coverage includes 13 named islands and 12 major bays in Lake Ontario, New York.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to datagov, focusing only on the U.S. portion of Lake Ontario.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Created for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) of the Lake Ontario 2023 ESI Geodatabase.

Time Range

2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:32:18.797753; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United States portion of Lake Ontario, including specific islands and bays in New York State.