Shallow benthic habitats of San Francisco Bay, California CMECS Geodatabase

This dataset has been developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management (OCM) as a collaborative and cooperative project with the California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) on behalf of the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to collect and delineate habitat data in the San Francisco Bay area. Data is intended for use in coastal management decision making, including applications such as sea level rise. The mission of the Center is to support the environmental, social, and economic well-being of the coast by linking people, information, and technology.

Original contact information:

Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Phone: (843)740-1202

Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov

San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary in California and represents a significant resource for the Central California region. This dataset is intended to support the local coastal zone managers in their decision-making processes. These data will assist with the subtidal habitat goals for the long-term management of the bay.

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The primary project area is the San Francisco Bay area. The total area is estimated to cover approximately 930 sq mi of intertidal and subtidal lands. The area for which habitat delineations was required ranges from the upper limit of the intertidal zone to the point at which an image signature of the bottom is no longer visible due to depth or turbidity. In the San Francisco Bay system this depth is generally approximately -2 meters. This file geodatabase contains three feature layers corresponding to the CMECS 2012 Geoform, Substrate, and Biotic components. These layers were extracted by OCM from a single benthic habitat shapefile and share spatial geometry. No polygon boundaries were changed during this extraction process; however, polygons without geoform, substrate, or biotic information were removed from the respective feature layers. Each feature layer has its own metadata record describing the attributes, and data development methods associated with it.

NOAA is in no way condoning or endorsing the application of this data for any given purpose. It is the sole responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose. It is also the obligation of the user to apply the data in an appropriate and conscientious manner. NOAA provides no warranty,nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete,incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. Much of the data is based on and maintained with ARC/GIS software developed by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). In addition, much of the information presented uses conventions and terms popularized by ARC/GIS and its user community. NOAA in no way represents the interests of ESRI, nor acts as agents for them.

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Acknowledgment of Dewberry would be appreciated in products derived from this data.