FCMaP Prioritization 2: Deep-water (20-200m)

Background and Instructions for Participants

STUDY CLOSED: RESULTS WILL BE POSTED BY GOMCON (FEB 19)

Contact NOAA's IOCM GIS Coordinator at cathleen.yung@noaa.gov for questions or updates.


Background

The Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP) is working in conjunction with NOAA's Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) Program to conduct a new spatial prioritization exercise for Florida waters between 20 and 200m depth. The FCMaP Prioritization 2: Deep-water study is being conducted to: 1) determine the implementation of systematic mapping of deeper waters around Florida and 2) understand the full scope of the community’s need for deep water data. The FCMaP Prioritization 2: Deep-water study will be conducted in the summer of 2023.

This study is a continuation of  2019 prioritization  study done by  FCMaP  in which two depth ranges were assessed: nearshore (0 to 20 m depth) and shelf (20 to 200m depth). The State of Florida has since been awarded $100 million in general revenue funds to capture statewide bathymetric lidar. The  Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative  (FSMI) is designed with a focus on nearshore (0 to 20m depth) areas and mapping will begin later this summer/fall of 2023. During the  FCMaP 2022 Annual Summit  the community determined a further analysis of the deeper water areas (20 to 200m) and resulting products should be conducted as stakeholder needs for surveys and products may have shift in response to storms, planned use and funding.

Why Participate?

Participation ensures your organization's spatial priorities are represented in the Florida mapping strategic plan. The results of this study will be utilized in planning and coordinating mapping projects across Florida waterways. Mapping contributes to safe navigation, informed land management, and effective engineering. It is the intention of FCMaP to coordinate and collaborate with Gulf and U.S. East Coast state, regional and federal partners with the goal to provide a consistent perspective on Florida coastal mapping efforts and needs.


Method

Submission Representatives

Each participating organization selects a representative individual to serve as the point of contact ( POC Form ) and survey respondent. The participant accesses the survey application and submits the organization's priorities as instructed.

Submitting Priorities

Participants each get a layer of 10 x 10 kilometer grid cells covering Florida waters between 20 and 200m depth. Participants select and assign priority levels, justifications, map products, and horizontal resolution to each cell using the FCMaP Prioritization 2: Deep-water web application.

Analysis and Results

In the analysis, all participant layers are combined and analyses are run to determine areas with highest mapping priority, needs, or urgency.

Instructions for Study Participants

Access the Survey

If you already have an ArcGIS online account on the NOAA GEOPLATFORM, the survey application will be shared with your account, and you will receive an email with a link to the survey itself.

It will also be available on the  FCMaP hub site , and the  IOCM Spatial Priorities site .

If you do not have a NOAA Geoplatform ArcGIS online Account: You will receive a survey-specific ArcGIS Online user login, and an invitation to participate in the survey.

1

Complete the Survey

1. Open the Spatial Prioritization Widget in the top left of your screen to assign priorities and indicate data types and area preferences.

2

2. On the top right of your screen, click the layer list and confirm that the grid layer at the top has your organization name on it. You may also toggle on reference layers in the layer list. Right clicking on a layer will allow you to adjust the transparency of that layer.

3

Configuring Reference Layers

4

3. Begin selecting cells for prioritization by clicking the "Select" button. You may hold down the "shift" or "ctrl" keys to select multiple areas at a time.

5

4. For each selection of cells, use the drop down menus to identify and apply justifications. Click "Apply All" when you have finished selecting justifications, map products, and horizontal resolution (minimum required).

After applying selections, a pop-up will appear to confirm your changes were successful.

6

5. For each selection of cells, use the drop down menus to identify and apply map products. Click "Apply All" when you have finished selecting justifications, map products, and horizontal resolution (minimum required).

After applying selections, a pop-up will appear to confirm your changes were successful.

7

6. For each selection of cells, use the drop down menu to select a desired horizontal resolution. Click "Apply All" when you have finished selecting justifications, map products, and horizontal resolution.

After applying selections, a pop-up will appear to confirm your changes were successful.

8

7. For each selection of cells, use the drop down menu to assign priorities. Click "Apply Priorities" to assign priority level (e.g. low, medium, high). High priority designation is limited to 1/3 of the total submission grid.

After applying priority, a pop-up will appear to confirm your changes were successful.

9

The feature layer created for your organization will update to contain your selections after choices have been applied.

When you have finished applying priorities, contact IOCM GIS coordinator (Cathleen Yung, cathleen.yung@noaa.gov) and communicate that you have finalized selections. Your feature layer will subsequently be taken down for analysis.

Criteria Definitions


Building on the 2022 FcMaP Prioritization

The Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP) is a consortium of State, Federal and academic partners that is undertaking the coordination of the collection and dissemination of consistent, high-resolution seafloor data for Florida’s coastal zone. The coastal zone in the context of FCMaP refers to the area extending from the shoreline to the 200-m isobath. The high-resolution data is critical for a myriad of ocean and coastal resource management applications.

An existing data gap analysis revealed that less than 20% of Florida’s coastal waters have been mapped using modern bathymetric methods (multibeam sonar or airborne lidar), and in some areas, less than 5% of the seafloor has modern data; where data do exist, they often date to the 1800s. Addressing the need for a more comprehensive modern map of the seafloor will take an enormous amount of effort and funding, coordination and prioritization will be critical to success.

In 2017 FCMaP also undertook a formal statewide seafloor mapping prioritization to solicit input from a variety of stakeholders. The results provided the first statewide perspective of user and stakeholder mapping prioritization needs for the State of Florida. The prioritization dataset identifies specific locations that would benefit the most users or stakeholders, which can help to refine targeted mapping strategies. We found that new, consistent data would greatly support and improve multiple management activities. The approach used for this effort demonstrates an effective and replicable approach to addressing the need for seafloor mapping.

FCMaP Mapping Priorities Index Map


Deadlines for Submission

June 20, 2023

FCMaP Prioritization 2: Deep-water kick-off webinar. Organizations are requested to provide a representative to submit priorities on their behalf.

June 27, 2023

Organizational representatives must be submitted to NOAA IOCM, user accounts will be created.

August 24, 2023

Organizations will have the month of August to submit priorities. Priority submissions are DUE AUGUST 24.

September 14, 2023

FCMaP Mid-year forum, initial results of the prioritization study to be presented

NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping, FCMaP

National Ocean Service | NOAA | Department of Commerce