Palau Shoreline and Coral Reef Habitat Map from IKONOS Imagery 2003-2006

A shoreline shapefile for the Republic of Palau derived from visual interpretation of IKONOS satellite imagery between 2003 and 2006. The project was a cooperative effort involving NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the University of Hawaii, and Analytical Laboratories of Hawaii. It used a two-tiered classification system integrating geomorphologic reef structure and biological cover.

Use Cases

• Coastal change analysis based on the digitized shoreline geometry
• Coral reef habitat classification based on the integrated geomorphologic and biological scheme
• Marine spatial planning based on the thirteen defined habitat zones

Strengths

• Data derived from high-resolution IKONOS satellite imagery
• Features a two-tiered classification system integrating structure and biological cover
• Created through a cooperative effort involving NOAA and academic partners

Limitations

• Last updated 2006-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Manual delineation and visual interpretation of satellite imagery.

Time Range

2003-2006

Freshness

Static dataset last updated in 2006.

Geography

Republic of Palau