Temperature, salinity, photosynthetically active radiation and weather parameters at SEAKEYS station Molasses Reef (MLRF) in the Florida Keys, 1992-2000 (NCEI Accession 0058102)

This dataset contains data collected at several Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) stations in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Florida Bay. These C-MAN stations have been outfitted with additional sensors to collect temperature, salinity and PAR data in addition to the standard sensors for weather related observations. The basic National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) C-MAN instrument package generally monitors meteorological data, such as wind speed and direction, air temperature and barometric pressure, but sea temperature is also measured when possible, at 1 meter deep.

The SEAKEYS program has since 1992 provided hourly data from up to seven meteorological and oceanographic monitoring stations situated throughout the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Florida Bay. These data are collected and presented via email and the Web daily, and are supplied through a historical database on the Web. Unique software (Environmental Information Synthesizer for Expert Systems -- EISES) developed for SEAKEYS data operates in near real-time and provides alerts as to conditions conducive to natural events such as coral bleaching (Coral Reef Early Warning System -- CREWS), larval conch survival, and in the future, harmful algal blooms. The future will also bring a database with quality controlled data supplied via the Web, as well as new uses for EISES and new capabilities for CREWS.