Bogue Sound Benthic Habitat Map from 1992 Aerial Photography

Bogue Sound, North Carolina, is the focus of this benthic habitat dataset derived from 1:20,000 scale aerial photography collected in 1992. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management produced these GIS shapefiles, which classify habitats using the System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME). The imagery was orthorectified to a 0.85-meter pixel resolution and digitized using specialized ArcGIS tools.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitats using polygon features.
• Assessing coastal habitat change over time by comparing 1992 baseline classifications with newer data.
• Modeling species habitat suitability based on SCHEME classification attributes.
• Integrating benthic data with other geospatial layers for coastal zone management.

Strengths

• Imagery was collected following strict NOAA C-CAP guidelines at low tide to ensure clear identification of vegetation.
• Data is orthorectified using ground control points and DTED, resulting in a precise 0.85-meter pixel resolution.
• Habitat classification follows the standardized SCHEME system, supporting consistent analysis.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one listing 1992-05-04 and another listing 2026-03-06 (likely a metadata error).
• The data has not been assessed for thematic accuracy according to the source descriptions.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Aerial photography interpreted and digitized on-screen using ArcGIS 8.2 and the Benthic Habitat Digitizer extension.

Time Range

1992

Freshness

1992-05-04

Geography

Bogue Sound, Coastal North Carolina, USA