Benthic Habitat Map for St. Thomas and St. John Shelf

NCCOS Assessment provides a spatially resolved map of benthic habitats on the insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration developed the map using environmental predictors, underwater imagery, and modeling, achieving an overall thematic accuracy of 85.8%. The dataset is available through multiple platforms, including Data.gov and NASA Earthdata, with conflicting last update dates noted.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial distribution of coral reef habitats using the CMECS classification scheme.
• Modeling the relationship between environmental predictors and benthic habitat types.
• Assessing the extent of live coral colonization on pavement and reef structures.
• Evaluating the composition of rhodolith beds with macroalgae and bare sand.
• Supporting marine spatial planning for the U.S. Virgin Islands shelf ecosystem.

Strengths

• Thematic accuracy of 85.8%, corrected for proportional bias.
• Developed by NOAA's NCCOS using underwater videos/photos for validation.
• Habitats are translated into the standardized Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) scheme.

Limitations

• Column names and row/record counts are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist: Data.gov lists 2026-03-05, while NASA Earthdata lists 2017-09 30.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Developed using environmental predictors, underwater videos/photos, and mathematical modeling techniques.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:41:13.663375

Geography

Insular shelf south of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean Sea.