Search Tips

Currently you can only search by name or classifiers, not both at the same time. Each of these searches does work together with a Level search.

Although they are contained in some names and classifiers, do not include the following symbols in your search: <, >, =, (, ), /. (The symbol "-" can be used.) Instead, enter part of the term before or after the punctuation.

Search By Name

A name search searches both the unit name and the name of all parent units. For example, a search for "estuarine" will return "River mouth formation" even though it does not contain the word "estuarine", because River mouth formation is in the Estuarine regime.

To search at specific levels of the hierarchy, use the Coastal/Marine Level checkboxes at the bottom of the search window. Do not include the name of the level (regime, formation, zone, macrohabitat, or habitat) in your name search; even though this is the last word of the unit name, it is not searched.

To see all units within a particular level of the hierarchy, check the box of the desired level and leave the name box blank.

Currently only descriptors that have been used classifiers can be used to search the data on the website. This search capability is only available for the three upper levels of the hierarchy (Regime, Formation, and Zone). Additional capability to search all levels by both classifier and other descriptors is planned for a future upgrade to the website.

Choose the "Classifier" button to search for units based on the classifiers and classifier values used to define the unit. Type the name of a classifier or the value of the classifier in the box. For example, a search for "energy" will return all units that have been classified by the "Energy Direction" and "Energy Intensity" classifiers; a search for "horizontal" will return all units classified with an Energy Direction of "horizontal". Note that a search for "horizontal" will not return all units with horizontal energy direction; it will only return those for which a horizontal energy direction distinguishes the unit from other units within the same level. (Note: classifiers of higher level units also apply to the nested lower level units, but a search will only find units at the level at which the classifier is used to distinguish one unit from another.)

See the Descriptors and Classifiers Section for the current list of classifiers and their values.