Great Lakes St. Clair/Detroit River System Shoreline Sensitivity to Oil Spills, 2019

2019 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data for the Great Lakes St. Clair/Detroit River System, developed by NOAA. The dataset contains vector lines and polygons representing shorelines and intertidal habitats, classified by their susceptibility to oiling based on factors like wave exposure, slope, and substrate. It covers areas from southern Lake Huron through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and into western Lake Erie.

Use Cases

• Modeling potential oil spill trajectories and impacts based on shoreline susceptibility classifications.
• Prioritizing habitat protection and cleanup efforts based on biological sensitivity and shoreline substrate.
• Assessing coastal vulnerability for environmental planning based on relative exposure to wave energy.
• Integrating shoreline habitat data with biological resource inventories for ecosystem management.

Strengths

• Data uses the standardized NOAA Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) classification system.
• Covers a specific, interconnected Great Lakes river system from Lake Huron to Lake Erie.
• Classification considers multiple natural factors like substrate type, biological productivity, and wave exposure.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely derived from field surveys, remote sensing, and existing habitat maps, classified using the NOAA ESI system.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026 03 13 22:25:37.982062; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Lakes St. Clair/Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan, including southern Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and western Lake Erie.