Weather, Ocean, and Tuna biomass time-series from 2005-2019 in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region (NCEI Accession 0306675)

This dataset contains spatial and temporal data used to analyze and project the distribution of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) in the Western Indian Ocean under varying climate change scenarios. Historical catch data (2005–2019) were obtained from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and environmental variables were sourced from the Copernicus Marine Service (MyOcean). Variables include sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), mixed layer depth (MLD), sea surface height (SSH), net primary productivity (NPP), chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL), as well as geographic coordinates and month. A Generalized Additive Model (GAM) framework with k-fold cross-validation was applied to determine the key drivers of skipjack tuna distribution during the historical period. Two text files contain the catch and environmental data time series that were compiled and used to create the 3 JPEGs provided. References to datasets and methods are provided in the reference section.