Ancillary Geospatial Grids for Coastal Chlorophyll-a Change Analysis

1998-2007 ancillary data supports the analysis of chlorophyll-a concentration changes in coastal waters. It includes a 5 arc-minute global sequence grid, grid cell centroids, and a country buffer dataset segmented by Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). The data was produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) for NASA.

Use Cases

• Spatially linking tabular chlorophyll-a change data to a global grid based on grid cell centroids.
• Analyzing coastal water quality trends within national maritime boundaries using the EEZ-buffered country dataset.
• Creating global or regional maps of coastal environmental indicators using the 5 arc-minute sequence grid.

Strengths

• Provides a standardized 5 arc-minute (approx. 9x9 km) global grid for consistent spatial analysis.
• Explicitly links to a specific, detailed dataset on chlorophyll-a concentration change from 1998-2007.
• Includes jurisdictional context via Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) segmentation, supporting policy-relevant analysis.

Limitations

• Metadata is incomplete: column names, row counts, file formats, and license information are not provided.
• Conflicting last-update dates exist between platforms (2007-12 31 vs. 2026-04-10), creating uncertainty about data freshness.
• The spatial resolution (5 arc-minutes) may be too coarse for fine-scale, local coastal studies.

Provenance

Source

Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).

Collection Method

Produced as ancillary data for the Indicators of Coastal Water Quality Collection.

Time Range

1998-2007 (inferred from its link to the primary chlorophyll-a dataset).

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2007-12-31 (nasa_earthdata) and 2026-04-10 (datagov).

Geography

Global coastal areas, segmented by national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).