dbSEABED

Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research,
University of Colorado at Boulder

USEFUL LINKS

dbSEABED
- Home
- Bibliography
- Methods
- FAQ
- CoreNavigator

usSEABED
- Home
- Atlantic Margin
- Gulf of Mexico
- Pacific Margin

Corewall
- The project
- CW Wiki
- Corelyzer

Partners
- GSMFC
- INSTAAR
- PIES
- USGS CMG
- IOW
- USIMS
- NOAA NGDC

Marine Substrates, Northern Gulf of Mexico

Introduction
A new data coverage for the Northern Gulf of Mexico has been built in a collaboration between the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), INSTAAR of the University of Colorado, PIES of the University of New Orleans, the US Geological Survey (USGS), and many donors of data. This web page provides an index to the VirtualGlobe, GIS and Metadata resources of that coverage.

Methods
For the most part, standard methods of dbSEABED integration were used (INSTAAR 2007a), applied to samplings and direct observations of the seabed materials: the sediments and the skeletonized biota. Detailed explanation of the gridding techniques is available at INSTAAR (2007b).

However, a primary program goal was to map hard substrate occurrences with a view to protection of certain fish stocks (e.g., NOAA 2007). Geophysical datasets were therefore also brought into play, and new methods of dealing with polygon, polyline, grid data imports were devised. An important factor is that geophysical mappings with sidescan, multibeam and seismic technologies view the seabed on much larger scales than samplings.

Results
The outputs are presented in several formats, each with documentation. The compilation will eventually be added to the USGS project usSEABED (USGS 2007).

Yellow: Public release Blue: Not for public release yet; apply to GSMFC for research use. ZD: Drag-extract from zip is OK. ZE: Extract zip to a folder, then tell GIS where to locate the themes.
Data group	Description	Filenames and details
Virtual Globe Google Earth (KML) binned data display. "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/KML/GMX/"	Google Earth and other virtual globes.	[index.html at the URL]
Geographic Information System (GIS) Grid Coverages These grids display the distribution of rock exposure, and sediment gravel, sand and mud contents. "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/resources/gsmseabed/griddings/"	ArcGIS 9.x project (.mxd, .aux, etc.)	gsm_gd_mxd.zip; 845KB. ZE
	ArcGIS 9.x layer files (*.lyr)	gsm_gd_lyr.zip; 14KB ZD
	ArcView 3.x ASCII grids (*.asc)	gsm_gd_ascii_Sp07.zip; 6.4MB, ZD
	ArcView 3.x BINARY grids	.apr, adf, .dat, .nit, *.001, log, info\ filesets; 3.5MB, ZE
	Metadata	gsm_gd_met.txt; 9.5KB
Geographic Information System (GIS) Point Coverages The points show the input data in great detail.	Text files	gsm_wwd, gsm_cmp, gsm_srt; 43.5MB, ZD
	Shapefiles linked in an AV 3.x project	gsm_wwd, gsm_cmp, gsm_srt; 109MB, ZE
	Metadata	gsm_pt_met.txt; 19KB
Geographic Information System (GIS) Polygon Datasets Polygons are coarse approximations of the distribution of the substrate types, but are useful in some GIS applications. They are the most similar data format to previous substrates mappings such as Sheridan and Caldwell (2002).	ArcView 3.x polygon shapefiles, graphics, and legends, some third-party in origin.	gsmfc_py_shp_Aug07.zip; 15Mb, ZD
Geographic Information System (GIS) Coastlines Combined Shapefile set for US State Outlines (USGS ) and Mexico and Cuba Outlines (ESRI).	Third party GIS coverages. See original sources for public supply.	gmf_land_shp_Aug07.zip; 76MB, ZE
Geographic Information System (GIS) Legends These provide the classification and coloration of the data on a map. "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/legends/"	Legends for ArcView3,x and ArcGIS9.x . They will be extended / updated over time.	In separate page listings (.avl, .lyr) or the zipfile dbSBD_Legends_Sep07.zip, 149KB, ZE
Project report Description of project goals, methods, and outcomes.	Apply to GSMFC for a copy.	GMX_Substrates_v3.5.pdf; 3.2MB
Technical documentation Specific to this project. "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/resources/gsmseabed/technicals.htm"	A collection of hints on how to make GIS and Database products.	*.htm, 6KB
Output data definitions "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/db9_outputs.pdf"	Formal definitions document	*.pdf, 257KB

References

INSTAAR, 2007. dbSEABED: An Information Processing System for Marine Substrates. [URL: "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/dbseabed/"]

INSTAAR, 2007. Grid Interpolation of Seabed Data. [URL: "http://instaar.colorado.edu/~jenkinsc/resources/interp"]

NOAA, 2007. FishWatch: US Seafood facts. Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio). [URL: "http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/red_grouper.htm"].

USGS, 2007. usSEABED: Coastal & Marine Geology Program. [URL: "http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/usseabed/"].

Sheridan, P. and Caldwell, P., 2002, Compilation of data sets relevant to the identification of Essential Fish Habitat on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf and for the estimation of the effects of shrimp trawling gear on habitat: NOAA Technical Memorandum, NMFS-SEFSC-483, 60 p.