This webinar to the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Network, May 17, 2017, reported progress on the Ecological Marine Units (EMU) project, a new undertaking commissioned by the Group on Earth Observations, to develop a standardized and practical global ecosystems classification and map for the oceans. The EMU is comprised of a global point mesh framework, created from 52,487,233 points from the NOAA World Ocean Atlas. Each point has x, y, z, as well as six attributes of chemical and physical oceanographic structure (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, silicate, phosphate) that are likely drivers of many ecosystem responses. We identify and map 37 environmentally distinct 3D regions (candidate ‘ecosystems’) within the water column. These units can be attributed according to their productivity, direction and velocity of currents, species abundance, global seafloor geomorphology, and more. A series of data products for open access will share the 3D point mesh and EMU clusters at the surface, bottom, and within the water column, as well as 2D and 3D web apps for exploration of the EMUs and the original World Ocean Atlas data. This webinar provided an overview of the EMU project and cover recent developments and future plans for the EMUs. Webinar recording at https://www.openchannels.org/webinars/2017/ecological-marine-units-3-d-mapping-ocean-based-noaas-world-ocean-atlas

1. Ecological Marine Units:
A 3-D Mapping of the Ocean Based on
NOAA’s World Ocean Atlas
EBM Tools Network/OpenChannels Webinar
May 17, 2017
Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Environmental Systems Research Institute (aka Esri)
Affiliated Professor, Oregon State University
Roger Sayre, USGS Senior Scientist for Ecosystems, Climate and Land Use Change
Sean Breyer, Esri ArcGIS Content Program Manager

2. GEOSS Task EC-01-C1 (2014) / GI-14 GECO (2016)
Global Ecosystem Classification and Mapping
• Develop a standardized, robust, and practical global ecosystems
classification and map for the planet’s terrestrial, freshwater,
and marine ecosystems.
• Dr. Roger Sayre, USGS, Task Lead
• Esri is a partner, engaged in producing and hosting the content
• Secretary Sally Jewell at the GEO 2015 Plenary in Mexico City:
“The US Geological Survey and Esri will develop a new map of
standardized global marine ecosystems”

3. Terrestrial Effort: Ecological Land Units (ELUs)
Land Cover
Lithology
Landform
Bioclimate Example: Warm Wet Plains on Metamorphic Rock
with Mostly Deciduous Forest
48,872 Combinations (Facets)
3,923 Unique Land Units/Colors
www.aag.org/global_ecosystems
esriurl.com/elu
esriurl.com/ecotapestry
esriurl.com/landscape

4. Ecological Marine Units (EMUs)
Who wants one?
 GEO & GEOSS (GEO BON MBON, GECO)
 Global Ocean Refuge System (GLORES)
 IUCN, WWF, CI, Mission Blue Sylvia Earle
Alliance
 FAO and ICES
 OOI and IOOS/GOOS
 Essential Ocean Variables community (e.g.,
World Climate Research Program)
 Researchers
 Educators
 Local agencies who want the global context
 Natl science agencies
 Editors of textbooks
Why?
• Ecosystem Health, Resilience, Ecosystem Goods & Services;
Ecosystem Services Valuation
• Nature Conservation Reporting
• Conservation planning
• Ecosystem Classification
• Ecosystem Based Management
• Fisheries Management
• Marine Data Management
• Indicating Species Distributions
• Explaining and Understanding Nature
• Risk Reduction
• Context: Local related to Global
• System Connectivity

5. EMUs:
• cover all the ocean
• are 3D
• are based on best available data
• are independent of political,
social and economic influence
• Promote further understanding of
how the environment structures
biodiversity (including fisheries,
threatened species, etc.)
How is this different from what exists?
Graphic courtesy of Mark Costello et al., U. of Auckland, New Zealand

6. Based on NOAA’s World Ocean Atlas 2013 v. 2
Nitrate
Silicate
Phosphate
Temperature*
Salinity
Dissolved Oxygen
Apparent Oxygen Utilization
Percent Oxygen Saturation
0 m
-5500 m
500 m
100 m
5 m
10 m
25 m
e.g., *Locarnini, R.A., A.V. Mishonov, J.I. Antonov, T.P. Boyer, H.E. Garcia, O.K. Baranova, and others. 2013. World Ocean Atlas 2013
version 2 (WOA13 V2), Volume 1: Temperature. In: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information S. Levitus, ed, and A.
Mishonov, technical ed, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 73, doi:10.7289/V55X26VD, www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/woa13/

7. EMU 3D Point Mesh Framework
UnitTop
SurfaceArea
5500 m
100 m
100 m
5 m
10 m
25 m
0 m
-5500 m
Feature Attributes
Depth_Level
Temperature
Salinity
Dissolved Oxygen
Nitrate
Silicate
Phosphate
MODIS Ocean Color
PointID
QuarterID
UnitTop (m)
UnitMiddle (m)
UnitBottom (m)
Thickness (m)
ThicknessPos (m)
EMUID
EMU Name
GeomorphologyBase
GeomorphologyFeatures
SurfaceArea
Volume, SpecialCases
0 m
UnitBottom
Unit Middle
Thickness
Volume
World Ocean Atlas EMUPoints
• K-means statistical clustering
• Backwards stepwise discriminant analysis
• Pseudo F-statistic  37 clusters
• Canonical discriminant analysis

8. EMU 13 Summary
Technical Name:
• Bathypelagic
• Very Cold
• Euhaline
• Hypoxic
• High Nitrate
• Medium Phosphate
• High Silicate
Common Name:
• Deep
• Very Cold
• Normal Salinity
• Low Oxygen
• High Nitrate
• Medium Phosphate
• High Silicate

9. EMU 13 Summary
Technical Name:
• Bathypelagic
• Very Cold
• Euhaline
• Hypoxic
• High Nitrate
• Medium Phosphate
• High Silicate
Common Name:
• Deep
• Very Cold
• Normal Salinity
• Low Oxygen
• High Nitrate
• Medium Phosphate
• High Silicate

10. WebApp livingatlas.arcgis.com/emu

11. MobileApp App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android)

12. Do Our Depth Findings Support
Traditional Ocean Zonation Concepts?
Figure courtesy of Paul R. Pinet, Invitation to Oceanography, 5th ed., Jones and Bartlett Publishers

13. Paper for peer-reviewed journal Oceanography
Full Title:
A Three-Dimensional Mapping of the Ocean Based on Environmental Data
Short title:
A 3D Mapping of the Global Oceans
Author List
Roger G. Sayre1, Dawn J. Wright2, Sean P. Breyer2, Kevin A. Butler2, Keith Van Graafeiland2, Mark J. Costello3,
Peter T. Harris4, Kathleen L. Goodin5, John M. Guinotte6, Zeenatul Basher1, Maria T. Kavanaugh7, Patrick N.
Halpin8, Mark E. Monaco9, Noel Cressie10, Peter Aniello2, Charles E. Frye2, and Drew Stephens2.
1Land Change Science Program, United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, United States of America
2Esri, Redlands, California, United States of America
3Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
4GRID-Arendal, Arendal, Norway
5NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America
6United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver, Colorado, United States of America
7Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States of America
8Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
9National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America
10National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

14. Ecological Marine Units (EMUs) at Depth
-400m
0m
-1200m
-2400m
-200m
-800m
-1800m
-3800m

15. Visualizing EMUs (Video)

16. Dissolved Oxygen

17. Ocean Currents
Barnier et al. Ocean Dynamics, 56: 543-567, 2006.

18. www.esri.com/ecological-marine-units

19. www.esri.com/ecological-marine-units

20. geonet.esri.com/groups/ecological-marine-units

21. Next Stages
ADDITIONAL DATA
On the Surface
OBIS
More ocean color
In Water Column
**Seasonal TEMPORAL WOA data
Particulate Organic Carbon
OBIS
On the Seafloor
Reef/Vents features
Sediment sizes
**In Your Own Study Area with higher-rez data
TOOLS
Viewer Tools
3D Web Viewer
3D Cross Section (Fence)
Analysis Tools
Compare Multiple Locations
Multidimensional Range Slider
3D Kriging
3D Geo Enrichment

22. www.esri.com/ecological-marine-units
esriurl.com/emudata
geonet.esri.com/groups/ecological-marine-units
www.aag.org/cs/global_marine_ecosystems
Sayre et al., 2017, Oceanography, 30(1): 90-103.
Nature News feature, 3 January 2017
Dawn Wright, dwright@esri.com, @deepseadawn

23. Extra Slides

24. EMU Data Products
Open Access
Ecological Marine Unit Explorer Web App
(Mobile App too)
3D Point Mesh (Download)
3D EMU Clusters Optimized (Download)
2D TopEMU (Download)
2D BottomEMU (Download)
Data Dictionary (Download)
Explorer App Source Code (Download)
EMU Data Sheets (Download)
Peer Reviewed Journal Article
USGS/AAG Peer-Reviewed Tech Report
Esri Platform Users
Connected
3D Point Mesh – 52M
3D EMU Clusters Optimized – 3.9M
2D TopEMU – 700K
2D BottomEMU – 700K
Data Dictionary
EMU Data Sheets
Explorer App
Offline
Map Packages
ArcGIS Pro Project
Data Dictionary
EMU Data Sheets

26. Comparison of Ecosystems (Colors) with Biogeographic Realms (Lines)
Do our EMUs correspond with biogeographic units?
(green arrows YES, black arrows NOT REALLY)

27. AmeriGEOSS/MBON Contribution
A Pole-to-Pole Map of Americas Marine Ecosystems

28. “Data Wrangling”
• Unified multidimensional data model
• netCDF, GRIB, and HDF formats
• Each variable is a multidimensional array
- Temperature at multiple times or depths
- Salinity at multiple times or depths
- Wind at multiple times
• Can store many variables (measures) in one file

29. “Data Wrangling”
We are currently using the Multidimensional Mosaic Dataset
• Add multiple variables
• Add from multiple files
• Normalize time dimension
• Normalize vertical dimensions
Aggregate data spatial, time and vertical dimension

30. WOA “Data Wrangling”
• netCDFs easily loaded into Mosaics for quick publication to server
• Each variable published as a separate service: e.g., T, S, Diss O2,
Silicate, Phosphate, Nitrate
• Available at 101 Depth Levels (Surface to Seafloor), 0 to 5,500 m
• Depth slider works in ArcGIS Online.
• Each variable published as a separate service!
- Including multiple variables in a single NetCDF would simplify things.
• Lack of a good set of 3d interpretation tools to conflate dataset to a
common 3d mesh.
Pro
Con