National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Water Temperature Data from Subsurface Temperature Recorders (STRs) deployed at coral reef sites in American Samoa from 2012 to 2023

Water temperature time series data provided in this data set are from subsurface temperature recorders (STRs) deployed at permanent coral reef sites across American Samoa by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD; formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The STRs were deployed for a period of 1-9 years from 2012 to 2023 and recovered during ESD-led NCRMP missions to American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023.

The high-accuracy temperature loggers made by Sea-Bird Electronics (SBE) and RBR Ltd. USA were weighted and strapped to solid substrate on the seafloor by SCUBA divers at depths ranging from 0 to 30 meters at permanent monitoring sites established by ESD's Ocean and Climate Change team. Sample interval of STRs recovered in 2013, 2015 and 2018/2023 was 2 min 30 sec, 60 min, and 5 min, respectively. The current sample interval is 5 minutes. Each time an STR was recovered another STR was typically deployed at the same location and depth and was assigned the same OCC_SITEID. Data were downloaded using the SeaBird SeaTerm V2 or RBR Ruskin V2 program and post-processed using R to trim "out of water" data.

Water temperature time series data aid in the monitoring of seawater temperature variability and are used to help scientists assess and understand how coral reefs monitored as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) are responding to thermal stress.

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 coordinates 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 is 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.

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 consolidates 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 Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and supported by NOAA Fisheries, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), NOAA Coral Reef Watch, and many other partners.

The Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) at NOAA Fisheries is leading in-situ climate monitoring in the U.S. Pacific Islands Region. The climate component of NCRMP in the Pacific provides a comprehensive view of climate change impacts on coral reef ecosystems and helps identify areas of resilience and vulnerability. The key indicators used to identify and monitor climate-driven trends include 1) thermal stress caused by changes in sea temperature, 2) ocean acidification resulting from changes in carbonate chemistry, and 3) ecological impacts by collecting data on coral growth rates, erosion, and community structure to understand the impacts of thermal stress and ocean acidification on the ecosystem. Each year, ESD scientists work closely with CRCP and partners during National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) missions to collect data using moored oceanographic (subsurface temperature recorders) and ecological (calcification accretion units [CAUs] and autonomous reef monitoring structures [ARMS]) instruments stationed at fixed sites in the Pacific Ocean, and water samples collected by divers. The in-situ data and satellite-based observations are also used in modeling efforts. Innovative analysis techniques are 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.

Updated March 2024 with STR data collected in 2023 and made changes to the format of all Date/Time data columns of the STR entity.

Updated April 2020 for all years following STR database QC and migration and resubmission of the 2013 and 2015 data, and for the 2018 data submission.

The temperature data includes metadata for each recorded observation and water temperature in degrees Celsius. Sample interval of instruments recovered in 2013, 2015 and 2018/2023 was 2 min 30 sec, 60 min, and 5 min, respectively.

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.

American Samoa

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NOAA's Ecosystem Sciences 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 acknowledgment:

"This publication makes use of data products gathered by the Ecosystem Sciences 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 Coral Reef Conservation Program. 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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These oceanographic data are PRELIMINARY data and have not been screened for accuracy. NOAA can not be held liable for use of these data in a manner other than for perusal of preliminary oceanographic data for scientific research on coral reefs ecosystems.

Please cite NOAA Fisheries, Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) when using the data.

Suggested citation:

Ecosystem Sciences Division, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, 2024: National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Water Temperature Data from Subsurface Temperature Recorders (STRs) deployed at coral reef sites in American Samoa from 2012 to 2023, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/37069.

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Data are downloaded from STRs using the SeaBird SeaTerm V2 or RBR Ruskin V2 program, post-processed in R, and migrated to the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Oracle database.

Data are exported by region and recovered year as one consolidated CSV file and zipped. The consolidated CSV files typically contain several million rows of data. Hence, the consolidated CSV file is also split into a series of 1-million row CSV files, which are also zipped.

INSTRUMENT SPECIFICATIONS:

SBE 56, SBE 39plus (no pressure sensor), and SBE 37-SM MicroCAT:

Rigorous 11-point temperature calibration of each sensor, Clock Accuracy: 5 seconds/month, Temperature Accuracy: ± 0.002°C (-5 to +35°C); ± 0.01°C (+35 to +45 C), Temperature Resolution: 0.0001°C, and temperature stability: 0.0002°C/month.

RBRSolo3T:

Temperature (degrees Celsius): Measurement Range -5 to 35; Initial Accuracy +/-0.002, Typical Stability 0.002 degrees per year, Resolution 0.00005. Clock Accuracy: +/- 60 seconds per year.

RBR Solo3T: 130 million samples

SBE 56 Memory Capacity: 15.9 million samples

SBE 39plus Data Memory: 9.5 million samples (without pressure)

SBE 37-SM MicroCAT Memory capacity: exceeds 530,000 samples

Data from when the instrument was turned on but not yet deployed are removed, and data from the period between removal and data download are also removed. Information about instruments that were lost or that failed are excluded.

All data gathered are consistent with the given methodology.

Quality control is conducted by PIFSC ESD personnel after the data is downloaded from the instrument during the cruise, when the data are post-processed, again after it is migrated to the database, and finally when it is packaged and submitted to the NOAA archive.

The data is captured in several locations: files stored on the cruise server during the mission and the PIFSC network, and data are imported into the PIFSC Oracle database. The cruise server is regularly backed up by the cruise data manager while at sea, and the PIFSC network and Oracle database are maintained and regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.

Water temperature data are collected using high-accuracy subsurface temperature recorders (STRs) made by Sea-Bird Electronics (SBE). STRs are usually deployed on the reef for a period of 3 years (shorter or longer deployments occur) at depths ranging from 0-30 m at permanent monitoring sites established by the NOAA Fisheries, Ecosystem Sciences Division.