Benthic Images from Stratified Random Site (StRS) Surveys in the Main Hawaiian Islands During the 2019 Bleaching Event

Data provided in his dataset are benthic habitat imagery that result from benthic photo-quadrat surveys conducted along transects at stratified random sites surveyed across the Main Hawaiian Islands during the 2019 bleaching event. The data were collected by the NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) during a multi-institutional effort by the Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative (HCBC) to build a comprehensive dataset of the spatial extent and severity of bleaching in the Hawaiian Archipelago during the peak of the forecasted 2019 coral bleaching event. These photo-quadrat surveys were conducted during shore-based missions and at each site, rapid visual assessments were also conducted to provide information on live coral cover and the percentage and average severity that was bleached, as well as taxa-specific metrics (live cover and the percentage and severity that was bleached).

A stratified random sampling (StRS) design was employed to select random sites. The survey domain encompassed the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats in the 0-30 m depth range. The stratification scheme included island, reef zone, and depth in all regions, as well as habitat structure type in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Sampling effort was allocated based on strata area and sites were randomly located within strata. Sites were surveyed using photo-quadrats along transects to collect benthic imagery to ultimately produce estimates of relative abundance (percent cover), frequency of occurrence, benthic community taxonomic composition and relative generic richness.

The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than sampling more transects at a site. Therefore, site-level estimates and site to site comparisons should be used with caution.

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

Working with the Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative (HCBC), NOAA ESD planned and executed a field survey response in 2019 that applied a structured, hypothesis-driven approach to document the extent of coral bleaching in the Hawaiian Archipelago, and laid the groundwork for tracking coral response and recovery through time.

Raw data include 30 benthic photographs per survey site. Included in the archive package is a list of survey sites, including region, island, site, date (day, month, year), latitude (dd), longitude (dd), and depth (ft) where photoquads were collected and unique image name. 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.

Main Hawaiian Islands

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NOAA 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 citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (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 (CRCP). 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 Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) when using the data.

Example:

Ecosystem Sciences Division; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2022). Benthic Images from Stratified Random Site (StRS) Surveys in the Main Hawaiian Islands During the 2019 Bleaching Event. NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/59193

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The latitude and longitude coordinates of each site surveyed are recorded using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

Handheld GPS units were used to locate random sites and mark site locations. Images captured from the camera may not contain a clear depiction of the benthos due to a number of confounding factors, including the angle of the camera lens in relation to the benthos, the distance between the camera lens and the benthos, and water turbidity.

Image data include 30 benthic photographs per survey site. Appropriate site level image grouping should include all 30 images.

Only shallow water (0 to 30 meter depth range) hard-bottom habitats are surveyed. The survey sites were randomly selected using a systematic process based on available habitat and bathymetric data. Although efforts are made to include broad spatial coverage of surveys at each island, weather conditions and other environmental constraints may have prevented the team from surveying exposed reef areas.

The same methods of data collection were used at each surveyed site.

The photos are reviewed by the diver for accuracy and usability. The data management team also uses a optical validation script to re-name photos and enforce several validation checks. Images are color corrected prior to analysis.

The images reside on a file server maintained and regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.

The stratified random sampling (StRS) design and benthic photoquadrat survey methodology has been employed by the NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division since 2013. 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.