Towed-Diver Observations in the Main Hawaiian Islands to Assess the Mass Coral Bleaching Event in November 2015

Description

A team from the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) deployed on a two-week research cruise in November 2015 to evaluate the impacts of the 2015 mass coral bleaching event in the Main Hawaiian Islands via towed-diver surveys. Areas surveyed included south Oahu, west Maui, Lana’i, and west Hawaii island. Over the course of 10 survey days, the team surveyed approximately 90 km of 15-m wide transects at depths ranging from 2 to 10 m.

Data provided in this dataset include visual estimates recorded by towed divers of percentage of live coral that was pale and bleached, as well as presence/absence data of condition by generic composition. Analysis of observer data reveals estimates of live coral affected by the event (pale or bleached) show a regional mean of 38.8% (+/- 1.96% CI95), with large variation in impact apparent between transects on the same island separated by as little as 13 km.

Additionally, instruments mounted on the towboards collected other in-situ data that are documented separately. A downward-facing DSLR camera with strobes collected photographic quadrat data by capturing an image of the benthos at 15-second intervals during the surveys. Oceanographic data was collected continuously throughout each survey with a suite of mounted sensors recording conductivity, temperature, depth, flourometry (chlorophyll-a), turbidity and dissolved oxygen.

The towed-diver visual estimate data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
VS_BENT_TDS_BLEACHING_OBS.csv Unknown Observations from towed-diver surveys of benthic habitat by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) conducted around the Main Hawaiian Islands (HA1602) in 2015. Open resource
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Website Unknown Link to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program website Open resource
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords Unknown The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. Open resource
Full Metadata Record Unknown View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. Open resource
NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) PDF NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. Open resource
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Website Unknown Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Open resource
Citation URL Unknown Online Resource Open resource

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