NOAA Office for Coastal Management and Maine Department of Marine Resources Benthic Habitat Data, coastal Maine and York and Webhannet rivers, 1993-2001 (NCEI Accession 0089462)

Maine's eelgrass (SAV) meadows form an important aquatic habitat for the state. These meadows provide shelter for juvenile fish, and invertebrates. In certain locations they also help stabilize unconsolidated sediments and shorelines. Maine's Department of Marine Resources has mapped the SAV habitat for the entire coast using the Coastal Change Analysis Protocol. This mapping was accomplished from aerial photography acquired between 1993 and 1997. The unified coastal SAV data set is a composite of these multiple year data.

These data are in GIS shapefile format (.shp, .dbf, .shx, and .prj files) with associated metadata. And additional subdirectory contains data collected from the Wells, Maine region (York and Webhannet rivers in southern Maine) in 2001 and includes benthic data, sediment grab data, and sediment profile image data. Sample browse graphics of select attributes were generated at the NODC and included in this accession.

The benthic data is classified according to the System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME). This system is fully described in Development of a System for Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) for Florida, Report to U.S. EPA - Gulf of Mexico Program, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Marine Research Institute. Review Draft 12/04/02.

缅因州的鳗草（SAV）草甸是该州重要的水生栖息地。此类草甸可为幼鱼及无脊椎动物提供庇护，在部分区域还可辅助稳定松散沉积物与岸线。缅因州海洋资源部采用《海岸变化分析规程》(Coastal Change Analysis Protocol)对全州沿岸的SAV栖息地完成了全域测绘，本次测绘基于1993年至1997年间获取的航空影像开展。统一后的沿岸SAV数据集由上述跨年度测绘数据整合而成。

此类数据采用GIS形状文件格式（.shp、.dbf、.shx及.prj文件）存储，并附带相关元数据。另有一个子目录包含2001年于缅因州韦尔斯地区（缅因州南部约克河与韦布哈尼特河区域）采集的数据集，涵盖底栖生物数据、沉积物采样数据及沉积物剖面影像数据。美国国家海洋数据中心(NODC)生成了部分选定属性的浏览示例图，并纳入本次数据集归档包中。

底栖生物数据依据《河口与海洋环境栖息地分类系统》(SCHEME)进行分类。该系统的详细说明见于《佛罗里达州河口与海洋环境栖息地分类系统(SCHEME)研发报告》，此报告为提交给美国环境保护局(U.S. EPA)墨西哥湾项目、佛罗里达鱼类与野生动物保护委员会及佛罗里达海洋研究所的审议草案，审议日期为2002年12月4日。