National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Images Collected from Climate Stations across the Hawaiian Archipelago since 2013

Photoquadrat benthic images were collected at NCRMP climate stations and permanent sites identified by the Ocean and Climate Change team across the Hawaiian archipelago since 2013 according to protocols established by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), now know as the Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD), and the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The imagery allows for a quantitative analysis using image analysis software to derive an estimate of benthic percent cover.

Climate stations are 3-4 sites per island that were selected in a stratified random fashion to be roughly equally spaced around the island, along the 15 m contour, on hard bottom, and at least 1 km away from a river mouth or embayment. Once selected we assess multiple features of the coral reef environment including in-situ temperature (STR), seawater carbonate, net carbonate accretion (CAU), and bioerosion (BMU). In 2013 and 2016, cryptobiota diversity (ARMS) was also assessed.

These data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

The NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) details a long term approach to provide an ecosystem perspective via monitoring climate, fish, benthic, and socioeconomic variables in a consistent and integrated manner. The NCRMP is intended to coordinate various NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) biological, physical, and human dimensions activities into a cohesive NOAA-wide effort. Through the implementation of the NCRMP, NOAA will be able to clearly and concisely communicate results of national-scale monitoring to national, state, and territorial policy makers, resource managers, and the public on a periodic basis.

Images underwent a color correction process if needed and then the StRS and Climate images should be ready to archive once images loaded to CoralNet for image analysis.

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) is a framework for conducting sustained observations of biological, climate, and socioeconomic indicators at 10 priority coral reefs across the U.S. and its territories. This integrated approach will consolidate monitoring of coral reefs under a uniform method in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. NCRMP is funded by the CRCP and supported by NOAA Fisheries, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), and many other partners. The Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), now know as the Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD), at NOAA Fisheries is leading biological monitoring in the U.S. Pacific Islands Region.

The biological component of NCRMP in the Pacific provides a triennial ecological characterization at a broad spatial scale of general reef condition for reef fishes, corals and benthic habitat (i.e., fish species composition/density/size, benthic cover, and coral density/size/condition). Each year, CREP [ESD] scientists work closely with CRCP and local partners to collect biological data on fish populations and coral reef communities from strategically selected sites during Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) missions. Innovative analysis techniques are then used to develop products that give fellow scientists, managers, decision makers and the public a better understanding of a region’s resources and how they are changing over time.

Raw data include approximately 30 benthic photographs per survey site. Included in the archive package is a list of survey sites, including site id, location (latitude/longitude), and survey date, where photoquads were collected. The file naming convention for each photo/image is [SITE]_[YEAR]_[TRANSECT]_[PHOTO_NUMBER].JPG (for example: TUT-903_2012_A_01.JPG).

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

Hawaiian Archipelago including the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

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NOAA Ecosystem Science Division (ESD) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

ESD welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. ESD has a very diverse set of field activities that generates large volumes of data using an array of data collection protocols.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with ESD principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by ESD, proper acknowledgement of both ESD and the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, ESD requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the ESD Data Management Team of any errors and discrepancies that are discovered during the course of using these data. They are further urged to bring to the attention of the Team all problems and difficulties encountered in using these data. This information is necessary in order to improve the collections and to facilitate more efficient and economical data processing and retrieval. The users are asked to supply copies of any missing data that may be located, and to provide information as to significant subsets and special aggregations of data that are developed in using the material provided.

Example citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Ecosystem Science Division (ESD), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP). The analysis and interpretations presented here are solely that of the current authors.”

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

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Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using the data.

Suggested citation:

Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2016). National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Images Collected from Climate Stations across the Hawaiian Archipelago since 2013. NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/36143

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PIFSC network/file system:

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Handheld GPS units were used to mark site locations.

Survey transects were appropriately marked to allow direct, site-level temporal comparisons.

Complete; photoquads were taken at all sites surveyed.

Only sites classified as climate stations / permanent sites were surveyed.

Survey methods were consistent across all sites.

Benthic images and the file structure are quality controlled by CREP personnel before they are migrated and integrated into CREP's master optical directory on the PIFSC network.

NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets.

Benthic photographs were collected for climate stations and permanent sites at pre-defined points along the transect. These photos are color-corrected (if necessary) prior to analysis. The data management team also uses a optical validation script to re-name photos and enforce several validation checks.