District of Columbia Wetland Data underlying the analysis entitled "Maps of lands close to sea level along the middle Atlantic coast of the United States" by J.G. Titus and J. Wang, 2008.

Metadata:


Identification_Information:
Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: US Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Division
Publication_Date: February 2008
Title:
District of Columbia Wetland Data underlying the analysis entitled "Maps of lands close to sea level along the middle Atlantic coast of the United States" by J.G. Titus and J. Wang, 2008.
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
Other_Citation_Details:
Data underlying the analysis reported in J.G. Titus and J. Wang, 2008.
Online_Linkage: \\neptune\gis\projects\SLRMapping\Metadata\DC\DC_elevation\dc_wetlandgrd
Larger_Work_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: US Environmental Protection Agency
Publication_Date: February 2008
Title:
Maps of lands close to sea level along the middle Atlantic coast of the United States
Other_Citation_Details:
Full Citation: Titus, J.G. and J. Wang, 2008: Maps of lands close to sea level along the middle Atlantic coast of the United States: an elevation data set to use while waiting for LIDAR. In: Background Documents Supporting Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.1: Coastal Elevations and Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise [J.G. Titus and E.M. Strange (eds.)]. EPA430R07004, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
Description:
Abstract:
This coastal wetlands data set is a reclassification of National Wetland Inventory (NWI) wetland data within the coastal zone of the District of Columbia. Within the attribute table under the field titled "Attribute",
1.	Tidal open water (includes mudflats)
2.	Tidal wetlands
3.	Non-tidal open water
4.	Non-tidal wetlands
5.	Dry land

The dataset covers all of the District of Columbia.

The zip file associated with this data set should include:
1.README_DC_Elevation.doc, which provides a brief overview of the relationship
between this dataset and related data
2.Classification_of_Coastal_Wetlands.doc
Purpose:
1.  To be used along with the outside-of-study-area (dc_out_of_study_area.shp) as an overlay to the Washington DC sea level rise planning study's shore protection scenario data set, either for creating for maps or calculating statistics.  The sea level rise planning study examined  only land that is either below the 20-ft contour or within 1,000 feet of the shore. Any shore protection attribute values for  lands that are either  wetlands, open water, or land above the 20 ft NGVD contour may be misleading or wrong, and have not been reviewed. Therefore, some sort of "wetland mask" and "out of study area mask" must always be used with the Washington DC shore protection data set.

2. To be used along with the Coastal District of Columbia Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to display wetlands and water in elevation maps of lands close to sea level.  The DEM provides "no data" (-9999) for all cells that are either open water or tidal wetlands.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: 1981
Currentness_Reference:
ground condition
Status:
Progress: Complete.
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned.
Spatial_Domain:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -77.189819
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -76.845663
North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.036284
South_Bounding_Coordinate: 38.718194
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: General.
Theme_Keyword: Wetland
Theme_Keyword: NWI
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: Geograhic Names Information System
Place_Keyword: District of Columbia
Access_Constraints: None.
Use_Constraints:
None.
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: James G. Titus
Contact_Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Division
Contact_Position: Project Manager for Sea Level Rise
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical address
Address:
1310 L Street, NW
City: Washington
State_or_Province: DC
Postal_Code: 20460
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 202-343-9307
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-343-2338
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: Titus.Jim@epamail.epa.gov
Data_Set_Credit:
US Environmental Protection Agency
Native_Data_Set_Environment:
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.0.1770
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Data_Quality_Information:
Attribute_Accuracy:
Attribute_Accuracy_Report:
The underlying data used in the creation of this layer may contain errors or omissions.
Attribute errors may have resulted from errors in the creation of the underlying (NWI) data, or from how we classified the various types of wetlands. See "Classification_of_Coastal_Wetlands.doc" included in the zip file.

Errors in Underlying Data.   Common errors in the underlying NWI data include changes since the imagery was collected, including:
a.	Rising sea level may have converted dry land to tidal wetlands
b.	Rising sea level and other processes may have eroded dry land or tidal wetlands, converting it to open water
c.	Nontidal wetlands may have been drained or filled for development.
In addition,  the NWI assessments often miss relatively small areas, such as the heads of creeks.

Errors in how we classified wetlands.   There is little doubt that we were correct in treating some NWI categories (such as marine intertidal and estuarine intertidal wetlands) as tidal wetlands.  However, other categories that we identified as subtidal (e.g. mudflats) might be properly considered intertidal for some purposes.  Some of the lacustrine and palustrine wetlands in relatively obscure tidal regimes (e.g. tidal, irregularly flooded) may provide an upper tidal wetland boundary that diverges from the "spring high water" elevation we sought.  Some classifications of open water may be partly tidal and partly subtidal.  In cases where a particular vegetation type may be found in both tidal and nontidal wetlands, our site-specific procedure of classifying wetlands along a tidal river as tidal wetlands may overlook the presence of a dike.
Quantitative_Attribute_Accuracy_Assessment:
Attribute_Accuracy_Explanation:
All polygons are attributed per "Classification_of_Coastal_Wetlands.doc"
Logical_Consistency_Report:
Commensurate with source data sets
Completeness_Report:
Commensurate with source data sets
Positional_Accuracy:
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy:
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report:
Commensurate with source data sets
Lineage:
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Publication_Date: 1980
Title:
US Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) Data (accessed August 2005)
Online_Linkage: <http://wetlands.fws.gov/downloads.htm>
Source_Scale_Denominator: 24,000
Type_of_Source_Media: digital vector data
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: unknown
Source_Currentness_Reference:
publication date
Source_Contribution:
Spatial and attribute data
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
We imported the NWI data into an ArcInfo coverage format
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
We projected the dataset into Albers projection.
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
We reclassified the dataset into tidal open water, tidal wetland, non-tidal open water, non-tidal wetland, and dry land according to system, subsystem, class, and water regime modifiers in the NWI Wetland and Deepwater Habitat Classification. For a table that shows the relationship between the NWI classes and our five classes, please see Classification_of Coastal_Wetlands.doc, which is included in the zip file in which this data is distributed. The following explanation uses prose to convey the same information.

1.  Tidal Open water consists of marine, estuarine, riverine, palustrine, and lacustrine open water influenced by tide. In our reclassification, open water consists of (A) subtidal subsystems in marine and estuarine systems; (B) aquatic bed, reef, and streambed in the intertidal subsystem of the Marine and Estuarine system;  (C) tidal rivers in riverine systems; and (D) the rocky bottom, unconsolidated bottom, aquatic bed, and open water classes with tidal water regimes in palustrine and lacustrine systems.

2.  Tidal wetlands consist of both salt tolerant wetlands and tidal freshwater wetlands. In our reclassification, tidal wetlands are (A) rocky shore, unconsolidated shore, emergent, scrub-shrub, and forested in the intertidal subsystems in marine and estuarine systems; (B) the rocky shore, unconsolidated shore, Moss-Lichen, emergent, scrub-shrub, and forested classes with tidal water regimes in palustrine and lacustrine systems.  

3.  Non-tidal Open Water consists of riverine, lacustrine, and palustrine open water that are not influenced by the tides. In our reclassification, non-tidal open water is (A) the rock bottom, unconsolidated bottom, aquatic bed, and open water classes in riverine systems (except tidal rivers); and (B) the rock bottom, unconsolidated bottom, aquatic bed, and open water classes with non-tidal water regimes in lacustrine and palustrine systems.

4.  Non-tidal Wetlands consist of riverine, lacustrine, and palustrine wetlands that are not influenced by tides. In our reclassification, non-tidal wetlands are (A) the rocky shore, unconsolidated shore, and emergent classes in riverine systems (except tidal rivers); and (B) the rocky shore, unconsolidated shore, emergent, scrub-shrub, and forested classes with non-tidal water regimes in palustrine and lacustrine systems.

5. We treated all other attributes as dry land.

A few types of attributes required site-specific inspection.  Please see Classification_of_Coastal_Wetlands.doc for details.

This dataset covers all of the District of Columbia.
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
We converted the wetland polygons into raster format (30 meters) and aligned to the elevation dataset.
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Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:
Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Raster
Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:
SDTS_Terms_Description:
SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: Complete chain
Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 628
SDTS_Terms_Description:
SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: Label point
Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 415
SDTS_Terms_Description:
SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: GT-polygon composed of chains
Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 415
SDTS_Terms_Description:
SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: Point
Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 4
Raster_Object_Information:
Raster_Object_Type: Grid Cell
Row_Count: 1052
Column_Count: 793
Vertical_Count: 1
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Spatial_Reference_Information:
Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:
Planar:
Map_Projection:
Map_Projection_Name: Albers Conical Equal Area
Albers_Conical_Equal_Area:
Standard_Parallel: 29.500000
Standard_Parallel: 45.500000
Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -96.000000
Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 23.000000
False_Easting: 0.000000
False_Northing: 0.000000
Planar_Coordinate_Information:
Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: row and column
Coordinate_Representation:
Abscissa_Resolution: 30.000000
Ordinate_Resolution: 30.000000
Planar_Distance_Units: meters
Geodetic_Model:
Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1983
Ellipsoid_Name: Geodetic Reference System 80
Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.000000
Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257222
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Entity_and_Attribute_Information:
Detailed_Description:
Entity_Type:
Entity_Type_Label: dc_wetlandgrd.vat
Entity_Type_Definition:
Classified wetland data
Entity_Type_Definition_Source:
US Fish and Wildlife/ICF
Attribute:
Attribute_Label: Rowid
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: VALUE
Attribute_Definition:
Code defining classified wetland
Attribute_Definition_Source:
ICF
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: 1
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
Tidal Open Water
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ICF
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: 2
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
Tidal Wetlands
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ICF
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: 3
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
Non-Tidal Open Water
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ICF
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: 4
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
Non-tidal Wetlands
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ICF
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: 5
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
Dry Lands
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ICF
Attribute:
Attribute_Label: COUNT
Attribute_Definition:
Count of cells with common value
Attribute_Definition_Source:
ESRI
Attribute:
Attribute_Label: ATTRIBUTE
Attribute_Definition:
Classified wetland type description
Attribute_Definition_Source:
ICF
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Overview_Description:
Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
Includes: 

TO - Tidal Open Water
TW - Tidal Wetlands
NO - Non-tidal Open Water
NW - Non-tidal Wetlands
UP - Uplands
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Distribution_Information:
Distributor:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Organization_Primary:
Contact_Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Division
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing address
Address:
USEPA (6207-J)
Address:
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
City: Washington
State_or_Province: DC
Postal_Code: 20460
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 202-343-9990
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-343-2338
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: climatechange@epa.gov
Resource_Description: Downloadable Data
Distribution_Liability:
Although this data was created under the direction of the EPA, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data. Neither EPA nor the data developers shall be held liable for any use of the data and information described and/or contained herein.
Standard_Order_Process:
Digital_Form:
Digital_Transfer_Information:
Transfer_Size: 0.085
Technical_Prerequisites:
Requires software capable of displaying shapefile data.
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Metadata_Reference_Information:
Metadata_Date: 20080902
Metadata_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Organization_Primary:
Contact_Organization: Stratus Consulting Inc. (Jones)
Contact_Person: Russ Jones, Jim Titus, and Jue Wang
Contact_Position: Managing Analyst (Jones)
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical address
Address:
1881 9th St. Suite 201 (Jones)
City: Boulder
State_or_Province: CO
Postal_Code: 80306
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 303-381-8000 (Jones)
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 303-381-8200 (Jones)
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-343-9307 (Titus)
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: rjones@stratusconsulting.com
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: Titus.Jim@epamail.epa.gov
Hours_of_Service: 9:00 - 5:00 MST
Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998
Metadata_Time_Convention: local time
Metadata_Extensions:
Online_Linkage: http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html
Profile_Name: ESRI Metadata Profile
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