Layer Selection Overview

For advanced exploration of the OBIS-SEAMAP data, you can overlay pre-defined, commonly referred layers.

There are three types of layers

  • Species range map
  • Jurisdictional or biogeographic zoning
  • Satellite imagery of the environmental data

Species Range Map

The species range map displays the distribution(s) of one or multiple species currently selected in the Species selection panel. Currently distributions are available for some of the marine mammals and sea turtles:

Taxa group Source Citation
Marine mammals IUCN IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.1; http://www.iucnredlist.org
Seabirds Birdlife International &IUCN BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2016)
Sea turtles SWOT SWOT Report - The State of the World's Sea Turtles, Vol 2., (2006) 49 p.; Nichols WJ (2007) Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) 5-year review: summary and evaluation. National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service 65 p
Sharks & Rays IUCN IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group

We are planning to update marine mammal distributions in a near future.

Jurisdictional or Biogeographic Zoning

Layer Description Source
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone World EEZ v12, marineregions.org
LME Large Marine Ecosystems NOAA
MEOW Marine Ecosystems Nature Conservancy
World Database of Protected Areas Marine protected areas from WDPA Versoin April 2020, Protected planet

< Overlay Layer >

  1. Turn on the checkbox for the layer you want to overlay.
    • The layers are color-coded by zone.
    • You can't change the colors.
    • Multiple layers can be mapped at the same time.

< Select a zone to filter records >

There are two ways to select a zone and filter the records within the zone.

a. Select one from a list of zones

  1. After the layer is mapped, a list of zones within the layer appears below "Zone selection".
  2. From the list, check on one or multiple zones. Every time a zone is turned on, the map is automatically updated with the selected zone highlighted and the records filtered within the zone.

b. Click a zone on the map

  1. When a zone layer is turned on, [Select] button in the toolbar Select button will become available. Press the button.
  2. Click on a zone on the map. The map is automatically updated with the selected zone highlighted and the records filtered within the zone.

< Upload Layer >

You can also upload your data in shapefile format to the map.

Environmental Data

Sea Surface Temperature (PF51)
Source AVHRR v5 Sea Surface Temperature
Availability 1982 through 2009
Averaging Yearly, Monthly, 8 Day
Cell size 0.04 degree
Unit Degree Celsius
Notes
  • When the temporal scale is set to "day", an 8 Day average that the selected date belongs to is picked up.
  • Minimum overall quality flag = 4; 2005 yearly data are from the NOAA-17 interim HDF.
Sea Surface Temperature (OISST)
Source Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature v2.0
Availability 1981-09-01 through 2019-12-31
Averaging Daily
Cell size 0.25 degree
Unit Degree Celsius
Notes
  • When the temporal scale is set to "day", an 8 Day average that the selected date belongs to is picked up.
Sea Surface Height
Source Aviso Global DT-Upd Merged MADT SSH
Availability 1992-288 through 2010-090
Averaging Weekly
Cell size 0.25 degree
Unit cm
Notes
  • When the temporal scale is set to "month", a weekly average that the first day of the month belongs to is picked up.
Chlorophyll-a (SeaWiFS etc)
Source SeaWiFS (SeaStar) / MODIS (Aqua) / CZCS (Nimbus 7) / OCTS (ADEOS-1)
Availability Jan 2011 = MODIS
Sept 1997- Dec 2010 = SeaWiFS
Nov 1996 – June 1997 = OCTS
Sept 1978 - June 1986 = CZCS
Averaging Yearly, Monthly, 8 days
Cell size 0.08 degree
Unit mg*m-3
Notes
  • Multiple data sources are put together to expand the temporal coverage .
  • When the temporal scale is set to "day", an 8 day average that the selected date belongs to is picked up.
Chlorophyll-a (MODIS)
Source MODIS (Aqua)
Availability 2002-07-04 through 2019-12-31
Averaging Monthly, Daily
Cell size 9 km
Unit mg*m-3
Notes
  • Multiple data sources are put together.
  • When the temporal scale is set to "day", an 8 day average that the selected date belongs to is picked up.
Bathymetry
Source S2004 (compilation of GEBCO and Smith/Sandwell)
Availability -
Averaging -
Cell size 1 arc-minute
Unit Meters. Depths represented as positive values.
Notes
  • Bathymetry is available in the simple statistics chart only. You can't overlay it on the map.

< Overlay Layer >

  1. Turn on the checkbox for the layer you want to overlay.
    • The layers are color-coded by pixel value.
    • You can't change the colors.
    • Multiple layers can be mapped at the same time.
  2. For the layer with a temporal series, you can change the time range. By default, the time range is fixed to 2001-01. See below for more details.

< Time Range >

There are two ways to specify a time range for which the environmental layer is picked up.

a. Specify a particular year/month/day

  1. Choose "Fixed" option.
  2. Enter a particular year/month/day in the textbox with the following format and hit the return key.
Format Example for May 6th, 2001
M/D/YYYY 05/06/2001 or 5/6/2001
YYYY/M/D 2001/05/06 or 2001/5/6
M-D-YYYY 05-06-2001 or 5-6-2001
YYYY-M-D 2001-05-06 or 2001-5-6
YYYYMMDD 20010506
  • Day and/or month parts can be dropped. When day or month part is missing, it is intented to get monthly or yearly average of the specified layer, if such average is available.

b. Set a time range using the time series chart

  1. Open the chart panel.
  2. Choose [Time series] if the time series chart is not yet shown.
  3. Adjust the temporal resolution from Year, Year-month, Year-month-day.
    • A choice of decade or century is not supported.
  4. Select a chart bar(s) to define the temporal period.
    • When a range is selected (e.g. From 2006-05 to 2010-09), the latest period is picked (e.g. 2010-09).
  5. Back to [Time Range] section in the Layer Selection, choose "Selected with Chart" option.
    • When "Selected with Chart" is selected while no bar is selected, a warning pops up.
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