Spring 2010 Research Mission aboard the
NOAA Ship Nancy Foster:
March 18
- April 6, 2010
Press Kit ›
Project Summary
NOAA’s Biogeography Branch of the NOAA/NCCOS Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA) will be conducting the seventh year of an ongoing seafloor mapping and characterization mission in the U.S. Caribbean aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. This work is funded by NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. Mission objectives are to:
- Collect swath bathymetry and acoustical backscatter for seafloor habitat mapping
- Collect fishery acoustics data in high priority areas, to assess species habitat preferences and possible spawning aggregations
Products from these missions are used to characterize and identify and areas for conservation. Products include: 1) underwater video and photographs with associated geographic locations; 2) processed depth imagery; 3) processed backscatter imagery; and 4) a habitat map describing the geographic location, physical structure, biological cover and live coral cover on the seafloor. All of this data and information is disseminated online using BIOMapper (Biogeography Integrated Online Mapper).
Figure 1. Map of the 2010 Mission Study Area off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Mission Support Products
Cruise Plan (PDF includes cruise overview, personnel, points of contact, description of operations, data acquisition and QA/QC methods, equipment list and more)
Press Kit
Other Support Products
Partners
Links to Related Projects
Mission Contacts