Data and trends

Reefs at Risk Caribbean online GIS

• ReefBase (www.reefbase.org) - Reefs at Risk results from the global (1998), Southeast Asia (2002) and Caribbean (2004) analyses are available from ReefBase’s online GIS (http://reefgis.reefbase.org/mapper.asp). This site displays Reefs at Risk threat analysis results along with a range of other reef-related data sets and satellite images.

• Caribbean Reefs at Risk (http://coralreefs.nbii.gov/reefsatrisk)– A web site focused on threats to Caribbean coral reefs has been developed through a partnership of the World Resources Institute (WRI), The University of the West Indies Caribbean Coastal Data Center (UWI-CDC), International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), United Nations Environment Programme – Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP), and the United States Geological Survey - National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII). The site provides base data on the Caribbean basin, watersheds, and land-based threats to coral reefs, highlighting the results of the Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean analysis. The site provides mapping using online GIS, as well as data for download accompanied by metadata.

Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean spatial datasets

All GIS data outputs from the Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean project are available on CD-Rom. (See Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean Data CD or e-mail reefsatrisk@wri.org for more information.)

A metadata summary of all data available on the Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean Data CD is available online. Due to data size limitations, only a subset of these data is available for download here.

Below is a summary of the datasets available. To access downloadable ZIP files of this and other Reefs at Risk data, please complete the Reefs at Risk registration form.

Data download options:

** Both download options provide estimates of threat to coral reefs for the four individual threats (coastal development, marine-based threats, overfishing, and sediment and pollution from upland sources), in addition to integrated threat -- the Reefs at Risk threat index.

• Download Vector Data Sets (rrcarib_vec.zip, 21 Mbyte) including data on coral reef locations, estimated threat to coral reefs from human activities, watersheds boundaries, and marine protected areas, all in ESRI ArcView shapefile format in Geographic projection.
  
  This option provides a zip file including five polygon data sets reflecting estimated threats from human activities, five point data sets reflecting coral reef locations by these estimated threats**, a polygon data set of watershed boundaries (with associated erosion estimates), a point data set reflecting river mouths and estimated relative sediment delivery, a polygon data set reflecting country boundaries, a line data set reflecting the coastline, and a point data set reflecting cruise ship ports of call. The zip file also includes an ArcView project file (rrcar_vec.apr) which requires ESRI's ArcView software.

• Download GRID Data Sets(rrcarib_grid.zip, 33 Mbyte) including data on coral reef locations, estimated threat to coral reefs from human activities, relative erosion rates across the landscape, and bathymetry, all in ESRI ArcView GRID format in Lambert Equal-Area Azimuthal projection.
  
  This option provides a zip file including five GRID data sets reflecting estimated threat to coral reefs from human activities,** five GRID data sets reflecting coral reef locations classified by estimated threat, a GRID data set reflecting estimated relative erosion rates across the landscape; and a GRID reflecting Bathymetry. All GRIDs are in Lambert Equal-Area Azimuthal projection.
  
  In addition, the zip file includes several vector shapefiles in Geographic projection – polygon watershed boundaries (with associated erosion estimates), polygon country boundaries, and a point data set reflecting river mouths and estimated relative sediment delivery. The zip file also includes an ArcView project file (rrcar_gr.apr) which requires ESRI's ArcView software and Spatial Analyst 2.0 extension.

Notes on unzipping

It is important that the data retain the directory (path) structure that they were saved with. This happens automatically with the WinZip Software. If using PKUNZIP, it is important to use the "-d" option of the command. The data should unzip into a directory called \RR_CARIB. RR_CARIB will contain a Word document with some notes about the project, the project file (.APR) which runs with ArcView software, and one or two data directories:

• Downloading RRCARIB_VEC.ZIP will result in a single subdirectory called “GEOGRAPHIC” which will contain all the datasets and associated metadata;
  
• Downloading RRCARIB_GRID.ZIP will result in two directories (“GEOGRAPHIC” and “LAMBERT”) being created. GEOGRAPHIC contains vector data sets with associated metadata, while LAMBERT contains the grid data sets with associated metadata.

Note:If you download and unzip both the vector and grid options several vector data files, such as national boundaries (CNTRY)VMAP.SHP) will be downloaded twice. Say “Yes to All” when prompted to “confirm file overwrite”.

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