"This file contains benthic taxonomy data for sites that were sampled for the National Coastal Condition Assessment in 2020, 2021 and 2022."		

Data have been thoroughly reviewed, however they are not considered final until the NCCA Report is published. Data may be updated at any time. The changelog for the associated file may be found below the column name definitions.         

End-users are responsible for reviewing the suitability of these data for their purposes.                                               		
"""Please bring any questions about the data to the attention of Hugh Sullivan, NCCA Lead at sullivan.hugh@epa.gov. ""                                             "		
                                                		
                                                		
                                          		
		
		
		
		
COLUMN_HEADING		DESCRIPTION
PUBLICATION_DATE		Date the dataset was published by NARS IM
UID		Unique identifier for a single sampling event at a site/visit. Use the UID to associate data in the NCCA site info files with  information included in this file.         
UNIQUE_ID		 Unique site ID based on location. Does not depend on year sampled or any other factor. Follows a unique site through multiple survey designs.  Form is NCA_ss_nnnnn  where ss is state/territory and nnnnn is number that starts at 10001.  No missing values allowed. Text          


SITE_ID		"NCCA Site ID for the study and year sampled. Preferred form is NCAnn_MM-xxxxx  where  nn is survey cycle year (05, 10, 15, 20, etc), MM is two letter state code, and xxxxx is between 10001 and 99999.  No missing values allowed.  No missing values allowed."
VISIT_NO		Sequential visit to the site within a sampling year
DATE_COL		Date Collected mm/dd/yyyy
PSTL_CODE		"State two letter postal code for site sampled. 50 state postal codes plus (if applicable) AS, MP, GU, PR, VI for American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.  No missing values allowed."
WTBDY_TYPE		Marine or Great Lakes
TAXA_ID		NARS IM-assigned taxonomic ID number
TARGET_TAXON		Name of taxon at target taxon level used by NCCA
APHIA_ID		Taxon ID from World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)
ITISTSN		ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number
HABITAT		NCCA habitat type
PHYLUM		Phylum of taxon
CLASS		Class of taxon
ORDER		Order of taxon
FAMILY		Family of taxon
DENSITY		number of organism / square meter in the sample when harmonized for grab size
IS_DISTINCT		Taxon is unique within sample: Y/N
TOTAL		Total number of specific organism counted in the sample
		
		
		
Changelog		
		
Publication Date 
Of Most recent
File Posted to
NARS Data Page 
        			Change
05/03/2024	    	Initial publication
05/20/2024	    	Publication of ncca20_bentcount_data_Rev_1.csv. Replaces incorrect LAT_DD coordinates with correct LAT_DD coordinates.
08/23/2024	    	file refresh to update values for multiple variables. Moved LAT_DD and LON_DD coordinates to SiteInfo