This is the official repository for accessing versioned releases of the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS).
The Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS, FGDC-STD-018-2012) is set of defined terms ("units") used to describe and classify marine ecological data which was developed as a US national scheme for classifying and integrating observational data collected in coastal, marine, and lacustrine environments. CMECS was published by the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) in 2012. The CMECS framework arranges its units hierarchically or semi-heirarchically within domain-specific modules: the Biotic, Geoform, Substrate, and Water Column Components; and Aquatic and Biogeographic Settings. This framework emulates the spatial nesting concepts used in GIS software so that the CMECS units can be used to categorize and map observational data to model ecosystems.
The CMECS FGDC-STD-018-2012 document contains the complete set of CMECS unit terms and defintions along with the scientific context and rationale for the units and framework, and for the conceptual development of CMECS. The document can be accessed from the NOAA Institutional Repository (https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/27552). Please cite as: FGDC. 2012. Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard. Marine and Coastal Spatial Data Subcommittee (Federal Geographic Data Committee). FGDC-STD-018–2012.
The CMECS unit terms and defintions as published in the FGDC-STD-018-2012 document are available as .csv files in the CMECS_2012_csv repo folder. Work is underway to develop a version of these in an RDF/OWL formatted ontology, which will be the master file that will be edited and versioned as changes to CMECS are adopted (see Future Updates section below).
More information about CMECS maintenence can be found on the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) CMECS webpage (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/coastal-marine-ecological-classification-standard).
CMECS technical guidance and examples of how to apply the standard can be found on the NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) team's CMECS webpage (https://iocm.noaa.gov/standards/cmecs-home.html).
For questions about this repository please contact Kate Rose (kate.rose@noaa.gov). For questions about using CMECS please contact the CMECS Implementation Group (ocm.cmecs-ig@noaa.gov).
CMECS follows a Dynamic Standard Process described at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/coastal-marine-ecological-classification-standard under the Vocabulary Maintenence section, along with instructions for proposing revisions to CMECS and a form for submitting proposals.
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