Digital images of color-infrared photographic slides of kelp canopies taken during aerial surveys in 1999 as part of the California Coastal Kelp Resources project (NODC Accession 0002429)

The dynamic and sometimes vulnerable nature of the California coastal kelp resource, critical as habitat and food for hundreds of related species, required the development of systematic methods for accurately assessing its extent and vitality. Until 1989,the California state-wide coastal kelp resource had only been sporadically mapped and analyzed since an initial state-wide visual survey conducted in 1915 (Rigg 1915). Earlier ground based estimates of kelp canopy extent have given way to modern aerial surveys, which cost effective and accurate methodology for the mapping and quantifying shore kelp resources (Jamison 1971).

A substantial portion of the kelp resource habitat falls within the NOAA/National Ocean Service, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). As part of its conservation and management mandate, the MBNMS established and conducted a kelp resource inventory program within the sanctuary-wide coastal zone in 1999 and 2000. MBNMS acquired data with 70-mm vertical aerial infrared photography. This data set contains 519 infrared aerial photos digitized to archival format directly from the original 70-mm slides of the California Coastal Kelp Resource Project 1999. This data set also contains survey area maps. Data slides and maps were digitized in archival format as part of a joint MBNMS and NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) project with funding from the Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) of the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (CDMP Task Order Number L-24).

加利福尼亚沿海海带资源具有动态变化且有时较为脆弱的特性，其作为数百种相关物种的栖息地与食物来源至关重要，因此亟需开发系统性方法以精准评估其分布范围与生存活力。自1915年首次开展全州范围的目视调查（Rigg 1915）以来，直至1989年，加利福尼亚全州沿海海带资源仅得到过零散的制图与分析工作。早期基于地面的海带冠层范围估算方法，已被现代航空测量技术所取代——后者是一套兼具成本效益与高精度的近岸海带资源制图与量化方法（Jamison 1971）。

该海带资源栖息地的相当一部分位于美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）/国家海洋服务局（National Ocean Service, NOS）管辖的蒙特雷湾国家海洋保护区（Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, MBNMS）范围内。作为其保护与管理职责的一部分，蒙特雷湾国家海洋保护区于1999年至2000年间，在保护区全域沿海区域设立并实施了海带资源清查项目。该保护区采用70毫米垂直航空红外摄影技术获取数据。本数据集包含519张红外航空照片，均直接从1999年加利福尼亚沿海海带资源项目的原始70毫米幻灯片数字化为档案格式。本数据集同时包含调查区域地图。数据幻灯片与地图的档案格式数字化工作，是蒙特雷湾国家海洋保护区与NOAA国家海洋数据中心（National Oceanographic Data Center, NODC）联合项目的一部分，该项目由NOAA国家气候数据中心的气候数据库现代化计划（Climate Database Modernization Program, CDMP）资助（CDMP任务订单号：L-24）。