A New Map of Global Ecological Marine Units - An Environmental Stratification Approach
- Creators
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Sayre, Roger1
- Dangermond, Jack2
- Wright, Dawn2
- Breyer, Sean2
- Butler, Kevin2
- Van Graafeiland, Keith2
- Costello, Mark3
- Harris, Peter4
- Goodin, Kathleen5
- Kavanaugh, Maria6
- Cressie, Noel7
- Guinotte, John8
- Basher, Zeenatul1
- Halpin, Patrick9
- Monaco, Mark10
- Aniello, Peter2
- Frye, Charles2
- Stephens, Drew2
- Valentine, Page1
- Smith, Jonathan1
- Smith, Rebecca1
- VanSistine, D. Paco1
- Cress, Jill1
- Warner, Harumi1
- Brown, Clint2
- Steffenson, John
- Cribbs, Douglas2
- Van Esch, Beata2
- Hopkins, Dabney2
- Noll, Guy2
- Kopp, Steve2
- Convis, Charles2
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1.
United States Geological Survey
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2.
Environmental Systems Research Institute (United States)
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3.
University of Auckland
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4.
Grid-Arendal
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5.
NatureServe
- 6. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
- 7. University of Wollongong
- 8. United States Fish and Wildlife Service
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9.
Duke University
- 10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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1.
United States Geological Survey
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2.
Environmental Systems Research Institute (United States)
Description
In response to an intergovernmental commission for a high resolution and data-derived global marine ecosystems map, distinct marine physical and chemical volumetric regions were characterized in an environmental stratification of the global ocean. The stratification produced 37 ecological marine units (EMUs) at a base resolution of ¼° (approximately 27 kilometers at the equator). The EMUs were objectively derived from non-supervised statistical clustering of over 52 million points from NOAA's World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA) database, an authoritative 57 year archive of global water column data. We organized the WOA data into a 3D ocean point mesh which represents a standardized geospatial framework for organizing physical, chemical, and biological data that characterize ocean composition and processes. The points are currently attributed with values for temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate, the six input values used in the stratification. The data represent the most accurate, current, globally comprehensive, and finest spatial resolution data available for each of the six inputs organized in a standardized geospatial framework for improved understanding of ocean environments. While the methodology and initial findings are reported elsewhere, we provide herein a more detailed description of the open data geospatial resources and and associated tool development. We present the EMU Explorer as a web-based query application that allows for the exploration of both the modeled EMUs as volumetric regions, and the comprehensive point data from the WOA.