Uniting Deep-Sea Coral with Geomorphology

Presentation by:Mark Kumler, PhD,Jason Greenstein, MS GIS Student University of Redlands

Deep-Sea Coral - Background

Photo Credit: NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Advanced Survey Technologies Group

Photo Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition

Photo Credit: NOAA Ocean Explorer

Photo Credit: NOAA and The National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington

NOAA’s National Database for Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges

GEBCO, NOAA, ESRI and more

• Over 700,000 coral and sponge records• Available for the public to query and download

MethodsEnrich coral data with World Seafloor Geomorphology from GRID Arendal

• Seafloor feature categories are in accordance with International Hydrologic Organization (IHO) standards (Harris et al., 2014)

• Hosted by Esri in the Living Atlas

MethodsWorld Seafloor Geomorphology from GRID Arendal:Base Features

MethodsWorld Seafloor Geomorphology from GRID Arendal:Discrete Features (18 categories – most overlap one another)

rift valley rise seamount shelf valley sill spreading ridge terrace trench trough

basin bridge canyon escarpment fan guyot glacial trough plateau ridge

Image Credit: NOAA’s National Ocean Service

MethodsOverlapping Discrete Features

GEBCO, NOAA, ESRI and more

Escarpment & Fan & Rise & Ridge & Seamount

ResultsEscarpment & Rise & Ridge & Seamount

Escarpment & Rise & Ridge & Seamount

Coral Present Coral Presence Unknown

Classifying Slope ZonesFor the Eastern U.S. EEZ

MethodsTopographic Position Index (TPI) | From Weiss (2001)

Neighborhood analysis Compare elevation of target

cell to its neighbors

Elevation Profile

Elevation

Horizontal Distance

positive TPI

(i.e. hilltop)

negative TPI

(i.e. depression)

near zeroTPI

(float or constant slope)

MethodsFlow chart of slope zone classification scheme

• Bathymetry data source: GEBCO 2019

Topographic Position Index (TPI) Grids

2,300 m 4,500 m 12,000 m

23,000 m 46,000 m

Made from various neighborhood sizes

Slope Position Zones

2,300 m 4,500 m 12,000 m

23,000 m 46,000 m

Classified from TPI and Slope

Results – Slope Position Zones, Large Neighborhood

D. 23,000 mNeighborhood

• Continental margin is represented

• But, Canyon Edge has a large width

Results – Slope Position Zones, Small Neighborhood

B. 4,500 mNeighborhood

• Canyon Edge has an appropriate width

• But, continental margin is not represented off of the Carolinas

Conclusion• Deep Sea Coral and Sponge Database enriched with

standardized geomorphic features

• Slope position zones were classified in the Eastern U.S. EEZ

Photo Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

Thank you

Jason Greensteinjason99g@gmail.com

Uniting Deep-Sea Coral with Geomorphology�Deep-Sea Coral - BackgroundSlide Number 3MethodsMethodsMethodsMethods�Escarpment & Fan & Rise & Ridge & Seamount Classifying Slope ZonesMethodsMethodsSlide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15ConclusionThank you