gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:78463 eng UTF8 dataset Office for Coastal Management resourceProvider 2025-12-09T13:45:33 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata Part 2 Extensions for imagery and gridded data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) geometryOnly curve EPSG::4269 Humboldt Bay Benthic Habitat 2009 2026-01-15 publication NOAA/NMFS/EDM 78463 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/78463 WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link Full Metadata Record View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. information mapDigital These data were developed to support ecosystem-based management in the Humboldt Bay region. The focus of the mapping effort was on shallow water benthic habitats with particular concern for eelgrass meadows. The study area covers Arcata (North) Bay, Entrance Bay, South Bay, and the Eel River Delta in Humboldt County, California. Humboldt Bay is the largest estuary north of San Francisco Bay and represents a significant resource for the north coast region. Beginning in 2007, NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, in partnership with the California Sea Grant Program and other local organizations, initiated an ecosystem-based management project for the bay. A key component of this project was the establishment of subtidal habitat goals to guide long-term management and provide a framework for conservation efforts across the land-sea interface. The collection of imagery and subsequent delineation of benthic habitat were essential steps for developing and implementing ecosystem-based management in Humboldt Bay's subtidal zone. Collectively, these efforts establish an important and replicable data and information framework crucial for ecosystem-based coastal and marine conservation planning and implementation. The layers available within the data download include biotic, field_point_sample, geoform, and substrate. Partners: California Sea Grant, Humboldt State University, California State University, California Department of Fish and Game, California Coastal Conservancy, California Sea Grant, The Nature Conservancy, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Geological Survey To support the inventory of benthic habitat classification, extent, and health pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act. NOAA Office for Coastal Management completed NOAA Office for Coastal Management (843) 740-1202 2234 South Hobson Ave Charleston SC 29405-2413 coastal.info@noaa.gov https://coast.noaa.gov WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link NOAA Office for Coastal Management Website NOAA Office for Coastal Management Home Page information pointOfContact notPlanned EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > COASTAL theme Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords 17.0 benthic biotic coastal geoform seafloor substrate theme California United States of America place DOC/NOAA/NOS/OCM > Office of Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce dataCentre Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Data Center Keywords 2017-04-24 publication 8.5 Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords GCMD Keyword Forum Page Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 22. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords information custodian MarineCadastre project InPort otherRestrictions Cite As: Office for Coastal Management, [Date of Access]: Humboldt Bay Benthic Habitat 2009 [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/78463. NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose. otherRestrictions Use Constraints: These data were created for planning and management. Users should be aware of temporal changes that may have occurred since the collection of original source data sets. otherRestrictions Distribution Liability: Any conclusions drawn from the analysis of this information are not the responsibility of NOAA, the Office for Coastal Management or its partners. All content is licensed under the CC0 1.0 Universal public domain dedication. unclassified NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) NOAA/NMFS/EDM 78463 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nos/ocm/dmp/pdf/78463.pdf WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. information crossReference vector eng; US biota environment -124.391793 -124.003949 40.539057 40.96479 | Currentness: Publication Date 2009-06-01 2011-04-01 Bureau Code: 006:48, Program Code: 006:055 https://marinecadastre.gov/downloads/data/benthic/humboldt_bay_2009.zip WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link https://marinecadastre.gov/downloads/data/benthic/humboldt_bay_2009.zip download https://benthic-data-noaa.hub.arcgis.com/ WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link https://benthic-data-noaa.hub.arcgis.com/ NOAA Benthic Data Hub Registry download dataset Accuracy Imagery was collected within one hour of a minus one (-1) foot tide, under conditions of low turbidity, low wind, low sun angle, and no cloud cover. Horizontal Positional Accuracy Captured at a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.54 meters by 0.54 meters, with a horizontal spatial accuracy within +/- 3 meters (95% confidence). Habitat delineation was conducted using a minimum mapping unit of approximately 0.01 hectares (10 meters by 10 meters) Completeness Report The images were organized into tiles named according to existing USGS digital ortho quarter quad boundaries (e.g., Arcata_South_NE.tif), with a small buffer of approximately 100 meters added to each tile to prevent coverage gaps. Conceptual Consistency These data are logically consistent Imagery The imagery for this project was acquired in June 2009. To ensure high quality and accuracy, the 12-bit 4-band imagery was collected within one hour of a minus one (-1) foot tide, under conditions of low turbidity, low wind, low sun angle, and no cloud cover. Captured at a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.54 meters by 0.54 meters, the imagery has a horizontal spatial accuracy within +/- 3 meters (95% confidence). The images were organized into tiles named according to existing USGS digital ortho quarter quad boundaries (e.g. Arcata_South_NE.tif), with a small buffer of approximately 100 meters added to each tile to prevent coverage gaps. Habitat delineation was conducted with a high level of detail, using a minimum mapping unit of approximately 0.01 hectares (10 meters by 10 meters). 2009-06-01T00:00:00 Field Points Polygon labels and boundaries were visually inspected for delineation precision and attribute accuracy. The thematic accuracy of the benthic habitat data set was assessed in two phases. The first phase took place September 14 to 18 2009, in the same season as image acquisition but prior to any mapping having been completed. A total of 128 points were visited on this trip. The points were selected manually to ensure that representative habitats are visible in the imagery as well as identify areas of potential confusion. The second phase also involved field visits which took place May 10 to 13, 2010. A total of 24 points were manually selected and visited after reviewing the draft habitat map. Navigation to each field point is accomplished using the source imagery as a backdrop, a real time Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) enabled GPS (Garmin 76 unit), and a ruggedized field laptop. The laptop displays the image of the area with each "target" point as well as a real-time symbol display of the boat location via the GPS. This system allows navigation precisely to the "target" point. In shallow or extremely clear water or during low tides, when the bottom was exposed, direct observations were made from the boat. In deeper areas or areas of unclear water, a towed underwater video camera with live feed to a monitor on the boat was deployed. The camera was towed long enough (about 2 to 4 minutes) at each station to provide a complete assessment of the dominant habitat type. The field classes were recorded to at least the two digit System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) classification level and where possible to the three digit level. The field points were sorted by habitat subclass and additional points were selected through a stratified random sampling process to generate a total of 50 points per class which would support a statistically valid accuracy assessment. These points were visually interpreted by viewing the source imagery. A total of 132 points were analyzed in this way. All the points were assembled into an error matrix where the field classification is compared to the map classification of each point by category. The resulting accuracy for the Humboldt Bay benthic habitat data at the 2 digit SCHEME classification code level is 84%, with a kappa coefficient of 0.793. 2009-09-01T00:00:00 Biotic The imagery was flown on April 19, 2011 between 9:35 and 10:24 A.M. The horizontal spatial accuracy of the imagery is within +/- 3 meters (95% confidence) of position on the ground. The radiometric resolution of the 4-band image composites is 12-bit. The imagery was processed to remove atmospheric effects such as haze and to highlight the spectral response of submerged areas. The imagery has some exposure variation between adjacent flight lines and between sunlit and cloud-shaded areas. The 4-band imagery was provided in GeoTIFF format. The imagery was captured at a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.25 meters by 0.25 meters and was delivered in a Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 8 projection using the NAD1983 datum. The benthic habitat map was developed through image segmentation using Trimble eCognition Developer (eCognition) software. Image segments representing spectrally homogenous areas in the source imagery were generated using a scale factor of 20 to 25. A draft map was generated by classifying the image segments into one of 5 habitat classes (coastal marsh, unconsolidated sediments, unconsolidated bottom, macroalgae, and eelgrass) using the Nearest Neighbor classifier in eCognition. Training data was derived through photo interpretation using available provided field information as a reference. The resulting draft data were reviewed by the project team through visual inspection and comparison to ground photos. Additional edits were made through manual labeling of the segments. Due to poor water clarity in Klawock Lagoon, eelgrass habitat boundaries in the lagoon were generated by staff that kayaked along the perimeter of the beds with a GPS that logged their position every second. Two of these kayak-digitized polygons (one collected in August 2010 and one in September 2011) were merged to create a maximum extent of eelgrass polygon which was incorporated into the final benthic habitat map. In 2015, these data were converted from a single ESRI polygon shapefile classified according to the SCHEME format, to the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) 2012 format. This was accomplished using the CMECS Crosswalk Tool from the Digital Coast, which produces separate biotic, geoform, and substrate feature layers from the original input benthic habitat dataset. This biotic feature layer contains CMECS biotic component attributes where an "Equal" or "Nearly Equal" SCHEME value was present in the original data. Polygons for which no biotic information was present have been removed. No other changes to the original polygon boundaries or any other alterations of the original SCHEME data were made during this process. 2011-04-01T00:00:00 Geoform The imagery was flown on June 27, 2009 between 9:35 and 10:24 A.M. The horizontal spatial accuracy of the imagery is within +/- 3 meters (95% confidence) of position on the ground. The radiometric resolution of the 4-band image composites is 12-bit. The imagery was processed to remove atmospheric effects such as haze and to highlight the spectral response of submerged areas. The imagery has a minimal exposure variation between adjacent flight lines. The 4-band imagery is tiled and named according to the existing USGS digital ortho quarter quad boundaries (e.g. Arcata_South_NE.tif). A small buffer (about 100 meters) was produced with each tile to prevent gaps in coverage. The tiles are in GeoTIFF format. An index shape file indicating the image file name, location in the final file structure, and the USGS tile name was included to easily identify the location of an individual tile. The 4-band image sets were delivered within a "Unmanaged Raster Catalog" created within the ESRI GeoDatabase structure for access to the images The imagery was captured at a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.54 meters by 0.54 meters and was delivered in a Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 10 projection using the NAD1983 datum. The benthic habitat map was developed through visual interpretation of the multi-spectral imagery. This interpretation was guided by field observations collected during several signature development trips to the project area. Periodic consultation with local project partners about signatures in the imagery and examination of previous mapping in the bay also helped ensure an accurate delineation process. In 2015, these data were converted from a single ESRI polygon shapefile classified according to the SCHEME format, to the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) 2012 format. This was accomplished using the CMECS Crosswalk Tool from the Digital Coast, which produces separate biotic, geoform, and substrate feature layers from the original input benthic habitat dataset. This geoform feature layer contains CMECS biotic component attributes where an "Equal" or "Nearly Equal" SCHEME value was present in the original data. Polygons for which no geoform information was present have been removed. As a final step, adjacent polygons with the same geoform attributes were merged where appropriate. No other changes to the original polygon boundaries or any other alterations of the original SCHEME data were made during this process. 2010-06-01T00:00:00 Substrate The imagery was flown on June 27, 2009 between 9:35 and 10:24 A.M. The horizontal spatial accuracy of the imagery is within +/- 3 meters (95% confidence) of position on the ground. The radiometric resolution of the 4-band image composites is 12-bit. The imagery was processed to remove atmospheric effects such as haze and to highlight the spectral response of submerged areas. The imagery has a minimal exposure variation between adjacent flight lines. The 4-band imagery is tiled and named according to the existing USGS digital ortho quarter quad boundaries (e.g. Arcata_South_NE.tif). A small buffer (about 100 meters) was produced with each tile to prevent gaps in coverage. The tiles are in GeoTIFF format. An index shape file indicating the image file name, location in the final file structure, and the USGS tile name was included to easily identify the location of an individual tile. The 4-band image sets were delivered within a "Unmanaged Raster Catalog" created within the ESRI GeoDatabase structure for access to the images The imagery was captured at a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.54 meters by 0.54 meters and was delivered in a Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 10 projection using the NAD1983 datum. The benthic habitat map was developed through visual interpretation of the multi-spectral imagery. This interpretation was guided by field observations collected during several signature development trips to the project area. Periodic consultation with local project partners about signatures in the imagery and examination of previous mapping in the bay also helped ensure an accurate delineation process. In 2015, these data were converted from a single ESRI polygon shapefile classified according to the SCHEME format, to the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) 2012 format. This was accomplished using the CMECS Crosswalk Tool from the Digital Coast, which produces separate biotic, geoform, and substrate feature layers from the original input benthic habitat dataset. This substrate feature layer contains CMECS biotic component attributes where an "Equal" or "Nearly Equal" SCHEME value was present in the original data. Polygons for which no substrate information was present have been removed. In certain cases substrate class is assumed based on the type of vegetation present. These polygons are noted in the description field. As a final step, adjacent polygons with the same substrate attributes were merged where appropriate. No other changes to the original polygon boundaries or any other alterations of the original SCHEME data were made during this process. 2010-06-01T00:00:00 Standardized common design elements, cleaned up field content, repaired geometry, and projected to NAD83. 2025-08-01T00:00:00 Source Contribution: 12-bit 4-band digital orthophoto imagery with a spatial accuracy meeting or exceeding +/- 3 meters (95% confidence) 2009 Benthic Habitat DMC Imagery HJW Geospatial Pacific Aerial Surveys originator Source Contribution: Imagery from a GeoScanner system, producing digital ortho-rectified products with a spatial accuracy meeting or exceeding +/- 3 meters (95% confidence) 2011 Benthic Habitat GeoScanner Imagery 2011-04-19 publication Geovantage Inc. originator