St. Marys River Navigational and Marine Points for Oil Spill Sensitivity

NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration created this 2021 geospatial dataset of human-use resources for the Great Lakes St. Marys River system. It contains vector points representing anchorages, boat ramps, ferry terminals, lock and dam systems, and marinas. The data characterizes the environment by its sensitivity to oil spills, forming part of a larger Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) study.

Use Cases

• Modeling potential oil spill impacts on marine infrastructure based on the listed resource types.
• Planning coastal zone management and emergency response based on the location of navigational facilities.
• Assessing human-use resource sensitivity for environmental risk studies based on the ESI framework.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill planning.
• Includes specific resource types: anchorages, boat ramps, ferry terminals, lock and dam systems, and marinas.
• Spatial data is designed to be used with related stand-alone attribute tables (SOC_DAT and SOURCES).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The primary file format listed is PDF, which may not be ideal for direct geospatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely collected and compiled for environmental sensitivity mapping as part of the ESI program.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:28:19.150612; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Lakes St. Marys River System, from near Monocle Lake to the headwaters of Lake Huron.