Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative: surveys for percent of bleached coral cover across the Hawaiian Archipelago from October 02 to November 18, 2015

The data described here result from coral bleaching surveys across the Hawaiian Archipelago from October 02 to November 18, 2015. The data provide survey-level information on percent live coral cover and the percentages of coral unbleached, partially, and fully bleached. The data were collected 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 2015 coral bleaching event. This dataset is a compilation of data supplied by: NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD); State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR); Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB); The University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM); The Nature Conservancy (TNC); and NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (HIHWNMS).

Coral bleaching surveys were conducted at 546 sites using varying methods per institution that included: belt transects (colony level assessments, visual estimates, video, line-point intercept), sUAS photogrammetry, photoquadrats, and towed-diver surveys . Metrics that were recorded include total percent live coral cover, percent coral unbleached, percent coral fully bleached, and percent coral partially bleached.

The Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative (HCBC) planned and executed a field survey response in 2015 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.

The observation data (.csv) includes metadata for each survey (where, when, who, area, depth), percent live coral cover, and percent bleached coral cover (full, partial, and overall affected).

The Dataset Descriptions (.pdf) includes a brief description of the survey methodology used by each institution.

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 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.

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

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Please cite the Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative (NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Sciences Division; State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources; Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology; The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii; the University of Hawaii at Manoa; NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary) when using the data.

Example:

Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative, 2021: Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative: surveys for percent of bleached coral cover across the Hawaiian Archipelago from October 02 to November 18, 2015, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/64755.

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The raw survey data from the 2015 surveys was originally recorded by each participant of the Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative before being compiled into a single multi-sheet spreadsheet by the NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Sciences Division.

Observations were made by experienced and trained benthic survey personnel. The accuracy of species and genus level identification was high.

Handheld GPS units were used to locate random sites and mark site locations.

Only shallow water (0 to 30 meter depth range) hard-bottom habitats were surveyed. Randomly selected survey sites were chosen using a systematic process based on available habitat and bathymetric data. Although efforts were made to include broad spatial coverage of surveys at each island, weather conditions and other environmental constraints may affect these efforts.

Observations made using the same survey method were conducted in a consistent manner, and nuances between survey methods are noted.

Quality control of the data occurred at a few stages from initial data entry per institution, to data compilation into a single Excel spreadsheet. Observations, including species identification, were periodically checked during expeditions for consistency between and among divers. Data entry was usually conducted on the same day as the surveys using a data entry interface with several data controls employed, and were quality controlled by individual divers checking entry errors at a separate time. Following a mission, the data was run through rigorous quality control checks. The data was quality controlled against the physical data sheets following data entry.

The data is captured in both physical data sheets, an external hard drive, and a NOAA Fisheries server at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). The physical data sheets are housed at PIFSC. PIFSC servers are regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.

Each organization in the Hawaii Coral Bleaching Collaborative used a survey methodology described in the Dataset Descriptions PDF document.