Document Type
Software
Publication Date
2025
Abstract/ Summary
[Tool download link. The zipped file (also available under "Additional Files" below) contains the Estuary Builder tool, its associated files and spatial data, a user guide, and an ArcGIS Pro project file (map document) preconfigured for tool use.]
The “Estuary Builder” GIS Tool for delineating and classifying coastal Maine embayments is a script tool for ArcGIS Pro version 3.2. The tool was developed with input from Maine Department of Marine Resources Shellfish Sanitation and Management as part of research into the vulnerability of different coastal Maine estuarine settings to bacteria pollution events. The tool enables a user to draw an outlet line across the mouth of any embayment or sub-embayment along Maine’s tidal coastline and performs two primary tasks:
First, it delineates the drainage area contributing surface runoff through the embayment mouth and aggregates data about the landscape and embayment. These data include factors relating to terrain, embayment morphology, land use, soil infiltration, and human population and infrastructure, and serve as proxy metrics for potential bacteria sources in the landscape and estuary, delivery to coastal shellfishing flats via surface water runoff, and residence time in coastal waters.
Second, the tool takes these aggregated data and uses a clustering algorithm to identify which of several archetypal coastal setting categories the combined landscape/estuary unit belongs to. Because setting definitions are based upon bacteria source, delivery, and residence time proxy metrics, delineated estuary units are expected to have similar bacteria vulnerability profiles and pollution event responses to other members of the same cluster.
Repository Citation
Van Dam, Bea E. and Smith, Sean, ""Estuary Builder" Tool - ArcGIS Pro 3.2 Version" (2025). Watershed Process and Estuary Sustainability (WPES) Research Group. 8.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/wpes_products/8
Publisher Statement
©2025
Version
other
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Rights and Access Note
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for non-commercial uses.
Estuary Builder, ArcPro 3.2
Rights Statement
