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Marine Data Literacy 2.0

Providing instruction for managing, converting, analyzing and displaying oceanographic station data, marine meteorological data, GIS-compatible marine and coastal data or model simulations, and mapped remote sensing imagery

 

 

 

 

Home > 2. Marine GIS > 2.2 Project Area

2.2 MDL Exercises Project Area

1.  Most of the exercises on this website use a Project Map that covers the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the African country of Liberia. 

The important measures of the map are:

  • Top (latitude):  +9.0 degrees

  • Bottom (latitude):  -6.0 degrees

  • Left (longitude):  -23.0 degrees

  • Right (longitude):  -3.0 degrees

  • Latitude mid-point:  +1.5 degrees

  • Longitude mid-point:  -13.0 degrees

  • Height: 15 degrees

  • Width: 20 degrees

The terms North, South, East and West are not used in the correct notation of signed decimal degrees.  For simplicity and to avoid errors, round off all values to whole degrees.  This map also covers the entire coastlines of the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire.  There is no political basis to the arbitrary selection of this area, and it is only chosen for educational purposes due to the interesting nature of the area.

 

2.  Many courses include a personal project that students must complete on their own during the course, and present to the class as a PowerPoint Presentation on the final day.  Here are the general recommendations for selecting a personal project area:
  1. The area should be roughly 10-degrees by 10-degrees, but can be larger or smaller with the instructor's approval
  2. The area should be roughly 1/3 land, 1/3 shallow shelf and 1/3 deep blue sea (>1000m)
  3. The Mediterranean is OK, but sediment thickness exercises will have to be located elsewhere.
  4. Areas that span the International Date Line must be created as 0-360 degree domains, requiring extra work and instructor permission.  See Creating a 0-360˚ Map System in Saga for Pacific-Centered Analyses & Products
  5. Areas that simply touch the International Date Line (e.g. as a left or right border) require the same extra work, and should be avoided by simply shifting the area polygon a bit.
  6. You can see examples of previous projects at: