gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:78515 eng UTF8 dataset Office for Coastal Management resourceProvider 2026-02-04T20:10:50 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata Part 2 Extensions for imagery and gridded data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) geometryOnly curve EPSG::4269 Willapa Bay Benthic Cover 1995 2026-02-17 publication NOAA/NMFS/EDM 78515 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/78515 WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link Full Metadata Record View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. information mapDigital In June 1995, the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) obtained 295 true color aerial photographs (1:12,000) of Willapa Bay, Washington, from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WDOT). These photographs were suitable for interpreting submerged, rooted aquatic vascular plant populations. Field surveys were conducted in August 1995 by personnel from Oregon State University, the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, and the Washington Department of Natural Resources. These surveys aimed at spectral signature development, verification, and habitat observation. The submerged plant populations were subsequently interpreted and mapped from the photographs and then transferred onto 1:12,000 orthophoto maps provided by the state of Washington. This information was digitized into a geographic information system to create a habitat map. The entire process, including interpretation, digitization, and photography acquisition, adhered to the rigorous parameters detailed in the Coastal Change Analysis Program protocol. Two supplementary datasets enhanced the interpreted habitat polygons. In 1996, WDOT provided color aerial videography for post-mapping verification and accuracy assessments. Additionally, the University of Washington collected videography from 29 underwater transects to specifically verify the deep-water edge of selected seagrass beds in the bay's southern portion. This videography included direct recording on the tape of date, time, geographic coordinates, and depth, updated every 2 to 4 seconds, with latitude and longitude provided by a differentially corrected global positioning system. The initial presence or absence map created by the taskforce was later segmented by depth to distinguish between two different seagrass communities and facilitate field accuracy assessment. Final field verification of the data was carried out in the summer of 1997 by CREST and NOAA Office for Coastal Management staff. The resulting benthic data is classified according to the System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments. This project aimed to establish national baseline data on benthic habitats and provide local resource managers with seagrass distribution information. A key focus was the distribution of Zostera japonica on intertidal mudflats and the threat posed by the expansion of Spartina alterniflora to the robust local oyster fishery. Healthy seagrass beds are vital, supporting endangered migratory waterfowl like the black brant, as well as commercially and recreationally valuable salmon. The layers available within the data download include biotic, geoform, and substrate. Partners: Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, Oregon State University, and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources 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 seagrass substrate theme United States of America Washington 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]: Willapa Bay Benthic Cover 1995 [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/78515. 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 78515 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nos/ocm/dmp/pdf/78515.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 -124.0962 -123.7535 46.3654 46.7546 | Currentness: Publication Date 1995-06-28 Bureau Code: 006:48, Program Code: 006:055 https://marinecadastre.gov/downloads/data/benthic/willapa_bay_1995.zip WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link https://marinecadastre.gov/downloads/data/benthic/willapa_bay_1995.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 A field accuracy assessment effort was conducted during the summer of 1997. Prior to making the field visit, the original presence/absence SAV map was segmented into shallow (-2 meters) and deep (greater than -2 meters) portions. The purpose of this was to draw verification samples not only from areas where SAV had been mapped, but from shallow areas that should support it. The result was a 6-class vector coverage that was rasterized and used as a pool for drawing random samples stratified by the shallow and deep-water class, shallow and deep-water SAV, unknown and the Spartina class. Sets of unknown polygons were directly measured. A total of 250 (50 samples per class) were randomly generated and stored as a database file to allow field measurement. A total of 95 sites were visited. The final results included an overall accuracy of 81.02 percent with a Kappa coefficient of 0.6842. Horizontal Positional Accuracy Horizontal accuracy was not addressed during the field visit of 1997. Horizontal accuracy measures were the result of internal quality assurance and quality control values during the digitization process. This involved a comparison of the native aerial photography and the polygon coverage to an existing digital nautical chart. The chart and polygon data meets national map accuracy standards. The maximum Root Mean Square Error for the manual digitization process was 0.003 digitizer inches. Completeness Report Data is complete. All interpretable SAV habitat was mapped. Conceptual Consistency Following the compilation process the arc vector coverage was cleaned and polygon topology was built using the arc CLEAN and BUILD commands. A further editing process was undertaken to remove sliver polygons generated during the bathymetric segmentation process. Aerial Photography and Underwater Videography: On June 28, 1995, 295 conventional color metric aerial photographs at a scale of 1:12,000 were acquired through the State of Washington Department of Transportation (WDOT), using a Jena LMK-2015 camera with a 153 mm Jena Lamegon Lens (AV minus blue Jena 405) and Aerocolor 2445 film. The photographs had 60 percent overlap and 20 percent sidelap. The equipment and methodology used to collect the 295 images met rigorous parameters detailed in the C-CAP Protocol. Deviations to the C-CAP protocol were the use of color aerial videography, obtained in 1996, as an ancillary data source. Data from 29 transects of underwater videography were used to verify the deep-water edge of selected seagrass beds in the southern portion of the bay. 1995-06-28T00:00:00 Benthic Signature development and Photointerpretation: Field surveys were conducted in August of 1995, after initial review of the images to develop spectral signatures. Observations of SRV on photographs were accomplished using stereopairs and a Leitz stereoscope with a 2X magnifying attachment. Areas containing eelgrass were delineated with reference to spatial distribution, and data from pre-truthing activities were used as constant reference to verify spectral signatures. Mylar overlays, placed on every other photograph, were used for tracing polygons defining SRV habitat from the aerial photography. The minimum mapping unit was 30 square meters, in order to avoid mapping Spartina rather than eelgrass. 1995-08-01T00:00:00 Digital Compilation: The delineated polygons were transferred from the overlays to State of Washington Orthophotos (1:24,000). The interpretations were directly transferred and when necessary, due to scale differences, a zoom transfer scope was utilized. The final, corrected interpretations were digitized using a digitizing tablet. The bathymetric points were made into a grid using ArcView Spatial Analyst Extension. The bathymetric grid was used to generate a contour line of -2 meters. The contour was unioned with the CREST SAV coverage and recorded for shallow and deep grass classes, shallow and deep open water, unknown bottom, land, and Spartina. The coverage was rasterized and 50 random points per class (excluding land) were randomly chosen from the stratified data set using ERDAS Imagine software, for a total of 300 points. Field verification of the data by personnel from CREST and C-CAP was conducted in July 1997. The team utilized both underwater videography for deeper water points, and hand-held Hi-8 above water video for shallow, exposed tidal flats. The fieldwork revealed that the deep-water points consisted of dense Zostera marina, while the shallow exposed points were scattered patches of grass, primarily Zostera japonica. Based on the field data, the deep and shallow grasses were recorded as dense and patchy, respectively. 1997-07-01T00:00:00 The data were converted from a single ESRI polygon data set classified according to the System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) to the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) 2012 format. This produced separate biotic, geoform, and substrate feature layers from the original input benthic habitat dataset. Each of the three feature layers contain respective CMECS biotic, geoform, and substrate component attributes where an "Equal" or "Nearly Equal" SCHEME value was present in the original data. Polygons for which no biotic, geoform, or substrate 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. 2015-01-01T00:00:00 Standardized common design elements, cleaned up field content, repaired geometry, and projected to NAD83. 2025-08-01T00:00:00 Source Contribution: Conventional color metric aerial photographic images of Willapa Bay, Washington acquired by the Washington Department of Transportation, June 1996 (Edition: 1.0). The 295 images formed the basis for the mapping, and most of the habitat presence, location, and characteristics were derived by manually interpreting this imagery. Film transparency. Conventional color metric aerial photography 1996-06-01 publication Columbia River Estuary Taskforce originator Source Contribution: CD-ROM containing .txt files. which supported the generation of a -2 meter bathymetric contour GEODAS NOAA Point Bathymetric Records NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center originator 1877 1954 Source Contribution: State of Washington Orthophoto imagery (1:12,000) State of Washington Orthophoto maps 1991-01-01 publication Washington Department of Natural Resources originator Source Contribution: Underwater videography Underwater videography 1996-01-01 publication Marine Resources Consultants, Inc. originator