Orthorectified Coral Reef Mosaic Images from St. Croix

Orthorectified mosaic images document coral reef communities within six 10m x 10m transect plots near Salt River, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The dataset contains six TIFF files, each representing a composite landscape view created from 1500-3000 individual underwater images. The mosaics were produced by NOAA's National Coral Reef Monitoring Program and collected on September 11, 2019.

Use Cases

• Analyze coral reef community structure and species distribution across six distinct 100 m2 transect plots using the mosaic images.
• Measure changes in reef coverage or health by comparing mosaic pixel data from different collection dates.
• Train image segmentation models to identify coral types or benthic features within the orthorectified landscape mosaics.
• Assess the effectiveness of the underwater 'lawnmower' imaging pattern for capturing comprehensive reef transect data.

Strengths

• Images are orthorectified, providing geospatial accuracy for analysis.
• Each mosaic is a composite of 1500-3000 individual images, offering high detail.
• Data covers six specific reef plots, each 100 square meters in area.

Limitations

• Dataset size is small, containing only six image files.
• Geographic coverage is limited to a single reef area in St. Croix.
• Data is from a single collection date (2019-09-11), limiting temporal analysis.

Provenance

Source

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program's National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP).

Collection Method

Images captured by a scuba diver using a dual-camera mosaic rig swimming in a 'lawnmower' pattern, merged via Agisoft Photoscan software.

Time Range

2019-09-11

Freshness

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Geography

Coral reef near Salt River, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.