Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment
A lack of data hinders effective marine management strategies for developing island states. This is a particularly acute problem for the Commonwealth of Dominica. Here we use publicly available remote sensing and model data to map their relatively unstudied waters. Two study areas were selected; a s...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/8/1820 |
| _version_ | 1797409507262857216 |
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| author | Catherine Wardell Veerle A. I. Huvenne |
| author_facet | Catherine Wardell Veerle A. I. Huvenne |
| author_sort | Catherine Wardell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A lack of data hinders effective marine management strategies for developing island states. This is a particularly acute problem for the Commonwealth of Dominica. Here we use publicly available remote sensing and model data to map their relatively unstudied waters. Two study areas were selected; a smaller area focussing on the nearshore marine environment, and a larger area to capture broader spatial patterns and context. Three broadscale landscape maps were created, using geophysical and oceanographic data to classify the marine environment based on its abiotic characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on each area, followed by K-means clustering. The larger area PCA revealed three eigenvalues > 1, and one eigenvalue of 0.980. Therefore, two maps were created for this area, to assess the significance of including the fourth principal component (PC). We demonstrate that including too many PCs could lead to an increase in the confusion index of final output maps. Overall, the marine landscape maps were used to assess the spatial characteristics of the benthic environment and to identify priority areas for future high-resolution study. Through defining and analysing existing conditions and highlighting important natural areas in the Dominican waters, these study results can be incorporated into the Marine Spatial Planning process. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:15:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f412fa7afaab4667833e71db4ca76e80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:15:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-f412fa7afaab4667833e71db4ca76e802023-12-03T13:55:17ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-04-01148182010.3390/rs14081820Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore EnvironmentCatherine Wardell0Veerle A. I. Huvenne1National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UKNational Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UKA lack of data hinders effective marine management strategies for developing island states. This is a particularly acute problem for the Commonwealth of Dominica. Here we use publicly available remote sensing and model data to map their relatively unstudied waters. Two study areas were selected; a smaller area focussing on the nearshore marine environment, and a larger area to capture broader spatial patterns and context. Three broadscale landscape maps were created, using geophysical and oceanographic data to classify the marine environment based on its abiotic characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on each area, followed by K-means clustering. The larger area PCA revealed three eigenvalues > 1, and one eigenvalue of 0.980. Therefore, two maps were created for this area, to assess the significance of including the fourth principal component (PC). We demonstrate that including too many PCs could lead to an increase in the confusion index of final output maps. Overall, the marine landscape maps were used to assess the spatial characteristics of the benthic environment and to identify priority areas for future high-resolution study. Through defining and analysing existing conditions and highlighting important natural areas in the Dominican waters, these study results can be incorporated into the Marine Spatial Planning process.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/8/1820marine landscape mappingCommonwealth Marine Economies ProgrammeCommonwealth of Dominicaconfusion index mapsprincipal component analysiseigenvalue |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Wardell Veerle A. I. Huvenne Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment Remote Sensing marine landscape mapping Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme Commonwealth of Dominica confusion index maps principal component analysis eigenvalue |
| title | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| title_full | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| title_fullStr | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| title_short | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| title_sort | broadscale landscape mapping provides insight into the commonwealth of dominica and surrounding islands offshore environment |
| topic | marine landscape mapping Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme Commonwealth of Dominica confusion index maps principal component analysis eigenvalue |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/8/1820 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT catherinewardell broadscalelandscapemappingprovidesinsightintothecommonwealthofdominicaandsurroundingislandsoffshoreenvironment AT veerleaihuvenne broadscalelandscapemappingprovidesinsightintothecommonwealthofdominicaandsurroundingislandsoffshoreenvironment |