ReefGIS :: Dataset Definitions
Location of Coral Reefs
Reef Basemap
Coral Reefs

Reef by Type


Reef by Geomorphology


Reef by Depth
 Dataset on coral reefs comes from the UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Map Library: Global Coral Reef Distribution. This dataset was compiled by digitizing coral reef locations from a large number of sources and maps. This global dataset is replaced with high resolution coral reef coverages from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project where available.

The Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project (IMaRS, Univ. South Florida; P.I.: Dr. Serge Andréfouët), classifies and maps coral reef structures worldwide using Landsat data. This project is funded by NASA, and is an international partnership between numerous organizations and experts. Shown here are preliminary datasets of selected areas which have been classified into coral reef areas. The Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project uses a large number of reef types and subtypes in their classification efforts. In this application in ReefBase, those types have been aggretated into fewer and simpler summaries. Throughout 2007 we will be adding more final data products from this exciting project.
Physical Features
Place Names
Place Names A list of reef-relevant place names was compiled by ReefBase. This list inlcludes: cities, towns, bays, straits, coral reefs, dive sites and other types of locations, and was compiled using a variety of sources.
Countries
Countries The country data layer originally comes from the Vector Map (VMap) Level 0, by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). Vector Map (VMap) Level 0 is an updated and improved version of the Digital Chart of the World (DCW®). The VMap Level 0 database provides worldwide coverage of vector-based geospatial data at 1:1,000,000 scale.
Topography
Topography Land topography data originates from the The Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation (NOAA, NGDC: GLOBE) digital elevation model. It provides 30 arc second gridded elevation data at 1 km resolution. In ReefBase GIS, the topography-layer (as well as bathymetry) is turned off by default to improve performance. If you want to produce more visually attractive maps, you should click the "Show/Hide Topography" button in the map. For full metadata on GLOBE, please click here.
Bathymetry
The bathymetry (ocean depth) data originates from National Geophysical Data Center TerrainBase Global DTM Version 1.0. This data represent an estimate of depth for each 5-minute cell (~10km horizontal resolution). In ReefBase GIS, the bathymetry-layer (as well as topography) is turned off by default to improve performance. If you want to produce more visually attractive maps, you should click the "Show/Hide Topography" button in the map. For full details on TerrainBase, please click here.