Metadata: Identification_Information: Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: Zafer Defne Originator: Neil K. Ganju Publication_Date: 2016 Title: Conceptual salt marsh units for wetland synthesis: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey Edition: 1.0 Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data Set (Polygon) Series_Information: Series_Name: data release Issue_Identification: DOI:10.5066/F7QV3JPG Publication_Information: Publication_Place: Reston, Virginia Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7QV3JPG Description: Abstract: The salt marsh complex of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay (New Jersey, USA), was delineated to smaller, conceptual marsh units by geoprocessing of surface elevation data. Flow accumulation based on the relative elevation of each location is used to determine the ridge lines that separate each marsh unit while the surface slope is used to automatically assign each unit a drainage point, where water is expected to drain through. Through scientific efforts associated with the Hurricane Sandy Science Plan, the U.S. Geological Survey has started to expand national assessment of coastal change hazards and forecast products to coastal wetlands. The intent is to provide federal, state, and local managers with tools to estimate their vulnerability and ecosystem service potential. For this purpose, the response and resilience of coastal wetlands to physical factors need to be assessed in terms of the ensuing change to their vulnerability and ecosystem services. EBFNWR was selected as a pilot study. Recent research shows that sediment budgets of microtidal marsh complexes on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States consistently scale with areal unvegetated/vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR) despite differences in sea-level rise, tidal range, elevation, vegetation, and stressors. This highlights UVVR as a broadly applicable indicator of microtidal marsh stability. It is also relatively quicker and less labor intensive compared to quantifying integrative sediment budgets and the associated transport mechanisms that requires extended tidal-timescale observations of sediment transport. UVVR indicates the link between open-water conversion processes and sediment transport, providing consistent results across a geomorphic and climatic spectrum of microtidal marshes, hence can be an independent measure of marsh health. Potentially, tracking future changes to UVVR may allow for widespread mapping of spatially variable vulnerability across microtidal marshes worldwide. Purpose: These polygons were created to be used in evaluating the spatial variation of the response and resiliency of the salt marsh complex based on consistently defined marsh units while facilitating a better understanding of the relative importance of the processes involved. An unvegetated area to vegetated area ratio was defined as a potential indicator of health of a salt marsh unit. Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Single_Date/Time: Calendar_Date: 2016 Currentness_Reference: The marsh unit polygons were derived by geoprocessing of the 1/3 arc second resolution USGS National Elevation Data (NED) with the publication date of 2011-2012. For more details see: Data Quality Information: Lineage: Source Information. Status: Progress: Complete Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None Spatial_Domain: Bounding_Coordinates: West_Bounding_Coordinate: -74.484623118 East_Bounding_Coordinate: -74.051158122 North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.053798801 South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.435117592 Keywords: Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Metadata Identifier Theme_Keyword: USGS:57fe81fbe4b0824b2d148389 Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Thesaurus Theme_Keyword: wetland ecosystems Theme_Keyword: wetland functions Theme_Keyword: coastal ecosystems Theme_Keyword: coastal processes Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Theme_Keyword: salt marsh Theme_Keyword: vegetation Theme_Keyword: marsh health Theme_Keyword: estuary Place: Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Place_Keyword: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Place_Keyword: United States Place_Keyword: Great Bay Place_Keyword: Barnegat Bay Place_Keyword: Little Egg Island Place_Keyword: New Jersey Access_Constraints: None Use_Constraints: These polygons are defined for scientific research purposes and should not be used as a sole source of reference for any regulations and policy making. Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the source of this information. Point_of_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Contact_Person: Zafer Defne Contact_Position: Ocean Scientist Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 384 Woods Hole Road City: Woods Hole State_or_Province: MA Postal_Code: 02543 Contact_Voice_Telephone: 508-457-8700 x2254 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 508-457-2310 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: zdefne@usgs.gov Browse_Graphic: Browse_Graphic_File_Name: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/57fe81fbe4b0824b2d148389/?name=marshUnitsEBFNWR.png Browse_Graphic_File_Description: Graphic that shows conceptual marsh units of EBFNWR salt marsh complex overlaying Esri Shaded World Relief Map. Browse_Graphic_File_Type: PNG Native_Data_Set_Environment: Environment as of Metadata Creation: Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; Esri ArcGIS 10.3.1 (Build 4959) Service Pack N/A (Build N/A) Data_Quality_Information: Attribute_Accuracy: Attribute_Accuracy_Report: Water and land boundary inherit from accuracy of source data EBFNWR. Marsh units accuracy depend on vertical and horizontal accuracy of source data NED. Logical_Consistency_Report: Topological errors occurred during geoprocessing were automatically removed by the topological rules used for the analysis. The polygons are checked for correct geometry and do not overlap. Small (less than 50 square meters) marsh polygons that were assumed to be artifacts of geoprocessing analysis were removed from the final dataset. A visual comparison between Esri World Imagery (~0.3 meters resolution) was performed at randomly selected sites to verify the land and water boundaries. Completeness_Report: The marsh polygons are bound to the boundaries of the EBFNWR areas that include 1) Marsh Salt, 2) Wetland Scrub Shrub Salt, and 3) channels of Open Water Salt that are wider than 50 meters. Sliver polygons of open salt water along the marsh edges may also be included in some instances as a result of geoprocessing. Any polygons with an area smaller than 50 square meters were removed from the final product. A detailed on-the-ground analysis of a single site may result in a different interpretation of the wetland and marsh unit boundaries than established through this analysis. Positional_Accuracy: Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy: Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report: Horizontal accuracy is inherited from NED 1/9 sec (~3-meter) dataset. Although the analyses were performed at 1-meter resolution for smoother conformity with the clipping polygons, the resolution of the final product should be considered to be greater than 3 meters. Vertical_Positional_Accuracy: Vertical_Positional_Accuracy_Report: A formal accuracy assessment of the vertical positional information in the data set has either not been conducted, or is not applicable. Lineage: Source_Information: Source_Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: U.S. Geological Survey Publication_Date: 20110215 Title: USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1/9 arc-second Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Raster Digital Data Set Publication_Information: Publication_Place: Reston, VA Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey Other_Citation_Details: The following USGS NED ned19 tiles were used in analyses (11 tiles): >1) USGS NED ned19 n39x50_w074x50_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >2) USGS NED ned19 n39x50_w074x75_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >3) USGS NED ned19 n39x75_w074x25_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >4) USGS NED ned19 n39x75_w074x50_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >5) USGS NED ned19 n39x75_w074x75_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >6) USGS NED ned19 n40x00_w074x25_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >7) USGS NED ned19 n40x00_w074x50_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >8) USGS NED ned19 n40x00_w074x75_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >9) USGS NED ned19 n40x25_w074x25_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >10) USGS NED ned19 n40x25_w074x50_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG >11) USGS NED ned19 n40x25_w074x75_nj_3coastalcounties_2011 1/9 arc-second 2012 15_x_15 minute IMG Online_Linkage: http://nationalmap.gov/viewer.html Online_Linkage: http://ned.usgs.gov/ Type_of_Source_Media: online Source_Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Single_Date/Time: Calendar_Date: 2012 Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date Source_Citation_Abbreviation: NED Source_Contribution: Elevation data from eleven USGS NED ned19 tiles (see Other Citation Details) were used in analyses. Download date was 20160801. Source_Information: Source_Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: William R. Jones Publication_Date: 2016 Title: Hurricane Sandy 2013 National Wetlands Inventory Habitat Classification (Habitat Analysis of Coastal Federal Lands located within High Impact Zones of Hurricane Sandy, October 2012) - EdwinBForsythe_FWS_2013NWI. Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data Set (Polygon) Publication_Information: Publication_Place: Reston, VA Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey Other_Citation_Details: U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland Aquatic Research Center Online_Linkage: http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F75Q4T70 Type_of_Source_Media: online Source_Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Single_Date/Time: Calendar_Date: 2016 Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date Source_Citation_Abbreviation: EBFNWR Source_Contribution: Downloaded and used the classification of features in EBFNWR ("Class" attribute) to determine the boundaries of the analyses and the final product. Source_Information: Source_Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: Cindy Thatcher Originator: Jeff Danielson Originator: Dean Gesch Publication_Date: Unpublished Material Title: Delineation of Water Bodies in Emergent Wetlands in Coastal New Jersey Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data Set (Polygon) Other_Citation_Details: At the time of publication, this source dataset was under review in the the USGS Information Product Data System (IPDS). Type_of_Source_Media: online Source_Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Range_of_Dates/Times: Beginning_Date: 2007 Ending_Date: 20140522 Source_Currentness_Reference: ground condition Source_Citation_Abbreviation: TRI Source_Contribution: Downloaded and used the classification of features ("TRI_NWI" attribute) to expand the boundaries of analysis beyond EBFNWR boundaries. Process_Step: Process_Description: This process step and all subsequent process steps were performed by the same person, Zafer Defne, in ArcMap (ver. 10.3.1) using tools from ArcToolbox, unless otherwise stated. Names of specific tools used are given in CAPITAL letters (any critical parameters used are given in parentheses, separated by a semicolon, immediately after the tool name). The input and output file names are provided in [square brackets] when necessary. Units for length and area calculations are meters (m) and square meters (m2) unless otherwise stated. Prepare elevation dataset to be clipped to the boundaries polygon. MOSAIC TO NEW RASTER(Pixel type= 32 bit float; Mosaic operator=Mean; Cellsize=1 m) all of the USGS NED 1/9 sec. tiles to a new raster dataset with 1m resolution. Resolution is increased from 3 m to 1 m to have a finer representation of the polygon boundaries in the horizontal during this step. Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: NED Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: NED03all Process_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Contact_Person: Zafer Defne Contact_Position: Ocean Scientist Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 384 Woods Hole Road City: Woods Hole State_or_Province: MA Postal_Code: 02543 Contact_Voice_Telephone: 508-457-8700 x2254 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 508-457-2310 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: zdefne@usgs.gov Process_Step: Process_Description: Prepare mask polygon for boundaries: In order to account for the possible influence of the surrounding terrain on the analysis, first a larger mask area than the salt marsh extent is used in calculations. This mask is obtained by union of TRI and EBFNWR datasets and creating a 25 m buffer around them. At the end of the analysis the results are clipped to the boundaries of the EBFNWR sat marsh. a) EXPORT features from TRI dataset after SELECT BY ATTRIBUTES("TRI_NWI" LIKE '%Wetland'). b) EXPORT features from EBFNWR dataset after SELECT BY ATTRIBUTES("Class" LIKE 'Wetland%', 'Mud%', 'Marsh%'). c) UNION the exported EBFNWR and TRI features. d) DISSOLVE features and BUFFER features with 25 m. e) ELIMINATE POLYGON PART(Condition=Percentage; Percentage=50; Eliminate contained part only) to obtain the mask polygon [TriEBF25m.shp]. Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: EBFNWR Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: TRI Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: TriEBF25m Process_Step: Process_Description: Define preliminary boundaries for marsh units by basin analysis: a) EXTRACT BY MASK from mosaicked elevation dataset using mask polygon. b) FILL(no Z limit) sinks in extracted elevation raster. c) Calculate FLOW DIRECTION(do not force edge cells flow outward) raster. d) Calculate BASIN based on flow direction raster. e) Convert RASTER TO POLYGON [basin25mbuff.shp] Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: TriEBF25m Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: NED03all Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: basin25mbuff Process_Step: Process_Description: This step merges the "orphan marsh units", units that are less than 5000 m2 in area to the nearest to "parent marsh units", units that are larger than 5000 m2 to obtain the preliminary marsh units. A Python script that iteratively calls a list of ArcMap tools to aggregate orphan units on parent units is used: a) Create orphan marsh units features by exporting marsh units with an area less than 5000 m2 [lt5000.shp]. b) Create parent marsh units features by exporting marsh units with an area greater than or equal to 5000 m2 [ge5000.shp]. c) Run Python script (hydUnitloop.py). At each iteration step the script uses NEAR tool to find orphan marsh units within 25 m of a parent marsh unit and merges them to the parent using UNION and DISSOLVE tools. The orphan units merged with a parent unit are removed from the orphan units data set. Script will iterate until there is no change in the number of parent or orphan marsh units. d) The remaining orphan marsh units are those that are more than 25 m away from any parent. DISSOLVE them to create larger orphan units by grouping the orphans attached together into larger units. e) MULTIPART TO SINGLEPART to have single part polygons with unique identifiers. f) UNION(with gaps) single part features with parent units to obtain preliminary marsh units [preMUopt1.shp]. Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: basin25mbuff Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: preMUopt1 Process_Step: Process_Description: Define final marsh unit boundaries by intersecting them with the salt marsh and salt water: a) SMOOTH POLYGON(with PAEK algorithm, 15 m tolerance). b) MULTIPART TO SINGLEPART to separate marsh units from geoprocessing artifacts to be deleted before the final step. c) EXPORT features from EBFNWR dataset after SELECT BY ATTRIBUTES("Class" LIKE '%Salt%') to select all salt marsh, salt mud, salt wetland scrub shrub and salt water [MUopt1EBFsalt.shp]. d) INTERSECT smoothed preliminary marsh polygon with salt marsh and salt water features [MUopt1EBFsalt.shp] to obtain the marsh units [MUopt1.shp]. Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: preMUopt1 Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1 Process_Step: Process_Description: Define vegetated and unvegetated areas in marsh units. a) SELECT BY ATTRIBUTES("Class" LIKE 'Wetland % Salt' OR "Class" = 'Marsh Salt') and DISSOLVE(None of the optionals selected) selected features [MUopt1EBFveg_diss.shp]. b) INTERSECT marsh unit features [MUopt1.shp] with vegetated polygon features [MUopt1EBFveg_diss.shp] to obtain the vegetated marsh units [MUopt1veg.shp]. c) ERASE vegetated marsh units from marsh units features to to obtain the unvegetated marsh units [MUopt1unveg.shp] Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1 Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1veg Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1unveg Process_Step: Process_Description: Calculate vegetated unvegetated and total marsh unit areas: a) ADD GEOMETRY(Geometry Properties= Area geodesic; Area Unit= Square meters) to calculate polygon areas of vegetated marsh units. b) ADD GEOMETRY(Geometry Properties= Area geodesic; Area Unit= Square meters) to calculate polygon areas of unvegetated marsh units. c) UNION(Join Attributes= All; Gaps Allowed) vegetated, unvegetated and marsh unit features. d) Remove artifacts of geoprocessing by deleting features with "FID_marshU" smaller than zero. Delete marsh units with total area smaller than 50 m2 and land area smaller than 10 m2. e) REPAIR GEOMETRY(Delete features with null geometry) f) Add new fields "ATOT_M2", "AUNV_M2", "AVEG_M2" to store total, water, and land surface area, respectively. "UVVR" field to store the unvegetated area to vegetated area ratio calculated by AUNV_M2/AVEG_M2. Remove all other attributes to obtain the final product [marshUnitsEBF.shp]. Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1 Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1veg Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: MUopt1unveg Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: marshUnitsEBF Process_Step: Process_Description: Add field "COLORID" to cycle through integers from 1 to 10 to be used for coloring the marsh units. This field used for display purposes only to distinguish between each marsh unit. Process_Date: 2016 Process_Step: Process_Description: PROJECT the feature dataset to WGS 1984 Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere). Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: marshUnitsEBF Process_Date: 2016 Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: marshUnitsEBFp Process_Step: Process_Description: Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. Process_Date: 20200807 Process_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Contact_Person: VeeAnn A. Cross Contact_Position: Marine Geologist Contact_Address: Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address: 384 Woods Hole Road City: Woods Hole State_or_Province: MA Postal_Code: 02543-1598 Contact_Voice_Telephone: 508-548-8700 x2251 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 508-457-2310 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: vatnipp@usgs.gov Spatial_Data_Organization_Information: Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector Point_and_Vector_Object_Information: SDTS_Terms_Description: SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: G-polygon Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 2600 Spatial_Reference_Information: Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition: Planar: Map_Projection: Map_Projection_Name: WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere (ESRI Full Name: WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere) Mercator: Standard_Parallel: 0.0 Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: 0.0 False_Easting: 0.0 False_Northing: 0.0 Planar_Coordinate_Information: Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: coordinate pair Coordinate_Representation: Abscissa_Resolution: 0.6096 Ordinate_Resolution: 0.6096 Planar_Distance_Units: Meter Geodetic_Model: Horizontal_Datum_Name: D_WGS_1984 Ellipsoid_Name: WGS_1984 Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.0 Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257223563 Entity_and_Attribute_Information: Detailed_Description: Entity_Type: Entity_Type_Label: marshUnitsEBF Entity_Type_Definition: Attribute information associated with the features delineating conceptual marsh units in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey. Entity_Type_Definition_Source: U.S. Geological Survey Attribute: Attribute_Label: FID Attribute_Definition: Internal feature number. Attribute_Definition_Source: Esri Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Attribute: Attribute_Label: Shape Attribute_Definition: Feature geometry. Attribute_Definition_Source: Esri Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Coordinates defining the features. Attribute: Attribute_Label: FID_CMU Attribute_Definition: Sequential whole numbers that represents the identification number for each conceptual marsh units. These numbers are duplicated when a marsh unit has both vegetated and unvegetated sub-polygons. Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 0 Range_Domain_Maximum: 1337 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: none Attribute: Attribute_Label: COLORID Attribute_Definition: Recycling sequential whole numbers (1-10) that are used for display purposes when plotting conceptual marsh units. These numbers are duplicated when a marsh unit has both vegetated and unvegetated sub-polygons. Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 1 Range_Domain_Maximum: 10 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: none Attribute: Attribute_Label: AVEG_M2 Attribute_Definition: Vegetated area of feature within a marsh unit in square meters Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 0 Range_Domain_Maximum: 7076365.12545 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: meters Attribute: Attribute_Label: AUNV_M2 Attribute_Definition: Unvegetated (if applicable) area of feature within a marsh unit in square meters Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 0 Range_Domain_Maximum: 2138546.2463 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: meters Attribute: Attribute_Label: ATOT_M2 Attribute_Definition: Total area of feature in square meters Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 28.8035509447 Range_Domain_Maximum: 7624400.41687 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: meters Attribute: Attribute_Label: UVVR Attribute_Definition: Ratio of unvegetated marsh area to vegetated marsh area calculated by UVVR=AUNV_M2/AVEG_M2 for each unique FID_CMU. Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Range_Domain: Range_Domain_Minimum: 0 Range_Domain_Maximum: 4.04753017425537 Attribute_Units_of_Measure: none Attribute: Attribute_Label: CLASS Attribute_Definition: Classification of the salt marsh unit to vegetated and unvegetated (water) coverage Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Enumerated_Domain: Enumerated_Domain_Value: unvegetated Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: Unvegetated salt marsh unit Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Enumerated_Domain: Enumerated_Domain_Value: vegetated Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: Vegetated salt marsh unit (water) Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source: USGS Overview_Description: Entity_and_Attribute_Overview: In this dataset, the salt marsh complex EBFNWR has been delineated to conceptual salt marsh units to facilitate unit by unit evaluation of response and resiliency of marsh system to physical and biogeochemical drivers. Each unit is also analyzed based on the vegetated and unvegetated surface area coverage, the ratio of which can be an independent measure of marsh health for microtidal marshes on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. It is calculated by UVVR=AUNV_M2/AVEG_M2, where UVVR is the unvegetated area to vegetated area ratio, AUNV_M2 and AVEG_M2 are unvegetated area and vegetated area in square meters, respectively. Decimal values in the attribute table are a result of double precision calculations while significant digits are considered in defining the attribute measurement resolutions. Therefore, the smallest unit increment for area values and UVVR are assumed to be 1 meter and a thousandths, respectively. COLORID is defined to limit the legend entries to 10 instead of the total number of entites for practical reasons. It is used for display purposes only. Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: USGS Distribution_Information: Distributor: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302 City: Denver State_or_Province: CO Postal_Code: 80225 Contact_Voice_Telephone: 1-888-275-8747 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: sciencebase@usgs.gov Resource_Description: marshUnitsEBFp.shp Distribution_Liability: Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Not for navigational use. Standard_Order_Process: Digital_Form: Digital_Transfer_Information: Format_Name: Shapefile Format_Version_Number: ArcGIS 10.3.1 Format_Information_Content: This zipped file contains a polygon shapefile and metadata. Transfer_Size: 70 Digital_Transfer_Option: Online_Option: Computer_Contact_Information: Network_Address: Network_Resource_Name: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/57fe81fbe4b0824b2d148389/?name=marshUnitsEBFp.zip Network_Resource_Name: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7QV3JPG Access_Instructions: The first link in network resources is to download data directly and the second link directs to a landing page with meatada and data. Fees: None. No fees are applicable for obtaining the data set. Metadata_Reference_Information: Metadata_Date: 20200807 Metadata_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Contact_Person: Zafer Defne Contact_Position: Ocean Scientist Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 384 Woods Hole Road City: Woods Hole State_or_Province: MA Postal_Code: 02543 Contact_Voice_Telephone: 508-457-8700 x2254 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 508-457-2310 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: zdefne@usgs.gov Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998