Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands for current and potentially restored coral reefs

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands for current and potentially restored coral reefs
Abstract:
This part of the data release presents projected flooding extent polygon (flood masks) shapefiles based on wave-driven total water levels for the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are 16 associated flood mask and flood depth shapefiles: one for each of four nearshore wave energy return periods (rp; 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-years), the current scenario (base) and each of the restoration scenarios (structural_25, structural_05, and ecological_25).
Supplemental_Information:
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document the data set in nonproprietary form, as well as in Esri format, this metadata file may include some Esri-specific terminology.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Cumming, Kristen A., Cole, Aaron D., Storlazzi, Curt D., Reguero, Borja G., Shope, James B., L., Camila Gaido, Viehman, T. Shay, Nickel, Barry A., and Beck, Michael W., 20210907, Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands for current and potentially restored coral reefs: data release DOI:10.5066/P9ZQKZR9, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Cumming, Kristen A., Cole, Aaron D., Storlazzi, Curt D., Reguero, Borja G., Shope, James B., L., Camila Gaido, Viehman, T. Shay, Nickel, Barry A., and Beck, Michael W., 2021, Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the State of Florida, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands for current and potentially restored coral reefs: data release DOI:10.5066/P9ZQKZR9, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -65.049642
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.564254
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.405503
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 17.672354
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 2021
    Currentness_Reference:
    publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: shapefile
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      Indirect_Spatial_Reference: coastline of USVI
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 20
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -63.0
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.0
      False_Easting: 500000.0
      False_Northing: 0.0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.6096
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.6096
      Planar coordinates are specified in Meter
      The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    USVI_Current_Restored.zip
    Polygon shapefiles containing attribute information associated with the current condition, and restored flood extents in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Source: Producer defined)
    Area_km
    Area of flood extent (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:12.30
    Units:square kilometers
    rp
    return period, identified as rpXX or rpXXX (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:10
    Maximum:500
    Units:years
    scenario
    scenario (Source: producer defined)
    ValueDefinition
    baseflood masks reflecting current conditions
    structural_25flood masks with the placement of a 1 m-high solid structure with corals planted on top, over a distance of 25 m in the cross-shore direction
    structural_05flood masks with the placement of a 1 m-high solid structure with corals planted on top, over a distance of 5 m in the cross-shore direction
    ecological_25flood masks with solely planting new corals over a distance of 25 m in the cross-shore direction
    zone
    Island where flood extent is located (Source: producer defined)
    ValueDefinition
    StCroixSt. Croix, USVI
    StThomasSt. Thomas, USVI
    StJohnSt. John, USVI

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Kristen A. Cumming
    • Aaron D. Cole
    • Curt D. Storlazzi
    • Borja G. Reguero
    • James B. Shope
    • Camila Gaido L.
    • T. Shay Viehman
    • Barry A. Nickel
    • Michael W. Beck
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    U.S. Geological Survey
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA
    USA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These data are intended for policy makers, resource managers, science researchers, students, and the general public. These data can be used with geographic information systems or other software to identify and assess possible areas of vulnerability to wave-driven flooding. These data are not intended to be used for navigation.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Summary of methods (source 1 of 1)
    Storlazzi, Curt D., Reguero, Borja G., Cumming, Kristen A., Cole, Aaron D., Shope, James B., L., Camila Gaido, Viehman, T. Shay, Nickel, Barry A., and Beck, Michael W., 2021, Rigorously valuing the coastal hazard risks reduction provided by potential coral reef restoration in Florida and Puerto Rico: Open-File Report 2021-1054, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: online
    Source_Contribution:
    Complete explanation of data and methodology used to create flooding model.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2019 (process 1 of 1)
    Flood extent polygons were built by creating a minimum-bounding polygon between flood points along adjacent shore normal profiles for 4 modeled storm return periods (10, 50, 100, or 500 years) in current conditions and in three restoration scenarios. The resulting 16 polygons were clipped and/or extended to a simplified coastline based on the 0-m contour used in the elevation model and edited to remove spurious results. The edited polygons were merged into a single shapefile (flood mask) and are identified by a unique floodmask attribute in the following format: USVI_rp[#]_[scenario], where [#] = wave energy return period (10, 50, 100, or 500 years), and [scenario] = current conditions (base) or restored conditions (structural_05, structural_25, or ecological_25). See Storlazzi and others (2021) for a detailed description of model development and methodologies. Data sources used in this process:
    • Summary of Methods
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Storlazzi, Curt D., Reguero, Borja G., Cole, Aaron D., Lowe, Erik, Shope, James B., Gibbs, Ann E., Nickel, Barry A., McCall, Robert T., Ap R. van Dongeen, and Beck, Michael W., 2019, Rigorously valuing the role of U.S. coral reefs in coastal hazard risk reduction: Open-File Report 2019-1027, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted. Attribute values are extents of modeled flood projections due to extreme wave and sea-level conditions and presence or absence of coral reefs and therefore cannot be validated against observations. Values are within a reasonable and expected range.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    Data are concurrent with topobathymetric DEM locations.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Data are concurrent with topobathymetric DEM locations.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the metadata record carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No formal logical accuracy tests were conducted. Values are within reasonable and expected range.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator(s) of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - Science Base
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO
    CA

    888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Filenames are in the following format USVI_[scenario]_[base/restoration].shp, where [scenario] = one of the 4 storm scenarios modeled (10yr, 50yr, 100yr and 500yr flood), and [base/restoration] = the current flood extent (base) or the restoration scenario flood extent (ecological_25, structural_25, structural_05).
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    The zip file contains data available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from Esri at www.esri.com. Use WinZip or pkUnzip to decompress the zip file.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 07-Sep-2021
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA
United States

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/ScienceBase/DR_P9ZQKZR9/USVI_Current_Restored_Metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.50 on Tue Sep 21 18:17:34 2021