This dataset contains satellite-tracked drifting buoy data collected around the southwest Florida Shelf. CODE/DAVIS (Coastal Dynamics Experiment drifters described by Davis, 1985) and mini SVP (Surface Velocity Program drifters described by Lumpkin and Pazos, 2007) buoys were deployed around Pulley Ridge, Dry Tortugas, and southwest Florida Shelf on project cruises between 2012 and 2015. Drifting buoys are designed to float freely with ocean surface currents and report their position back to shore via satellite. Data includes drifter time and position.

Bottom-mounted, upward-facing, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) were deployed at three locations (Northern Dry Tortugas, Southern Dry Tortugas and Pulley Ridge) across the southwest Florida shelf between 2012 and 2015. Each ADCP instrument recorded hourly measurements of near-surface and near-bottom water velocity (east/west component u, north/south component v, magnitude, and direction) and bottom temperature. A 40-hour low-pass filter (40HLP) was applied to the data, and vertically-integrated mean horizontal water velocity (VIMHWV) calculated.

This dataset provides current velocity and temperature computed by a high-resolution (1/100 degree) hydrodynamic model around the study area, extending to include the full Florida Straits and coastal areas between South Florida, northern Cuba and the eastern Bahamas. The “Florida Straits, South Florida and Florida Keys” (FKEYS) model is nested within a data-assimilative coarser (1/25 degree) model of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and receives daily updated variability of the deep ocean currents. The high-resolution FKEYS model provides details in circulation among the South Florida reef ecosystems, while enabling the study of regional connectivity due to the nesting with the GoM model.

This dataset includes population demographic data associated with bicolor damselfish (Stegastes partitus) that were collected from coral reef habitats at Pulley Ridge in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Florida Keys. The information includes individual fish data: lengths, weights, estimated fecundity, measurements of oocyte area, indices of spawning, otolith-derived ages, maturity, and fish densities derived from visual transects.

Three-dimensional (3D) connectivity matrices between Pulley Ridge and the Florida Keys using the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) for bicolor damselfish (Stegastes partitus), red lionfish (Pterois volitans), great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa), mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides), and red grouper (Epinephelus morio). For all species, the probability of connectivity between reefs from 2012-2014 is modeled; for S. partitus, daily probability of export from 2004-2008 is also provided.

This data release contains time-series photographs taken of corals and coral habitats in the Florida Keys between 1959 and 2015 at Carysfort Reef and Grecian Rocks (a total of six sites). The original intent was to show coral reef recovery after Hurricane Donna devastated the area in 1960. Corals, especially elkhorn and staghorn coral, grew prolifically after the storm until the late 1970s, then began to decline, with the maximum period of decline centered around 1983 and 1984. These time-series photographs, showing the same individual coral colonies year after year, document the decline in coral health observed at these locations, mirroring patterns seen region-wide across the western Atlantic. A selection of the photographs was previously published (in low resolution) in Lidz and others (2006), wherein findings and conclusions related to these data were discussed. Lidz, B. H., Reich, C. D., Peterson, R. L., and Shinn, E. A. (2006). New maps, new information: Coral reefs of the Florida Keys. Journal of Coastal Research, 22(2), 260-282, https://doi.org/10.2112/05A-0023.1

Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) Casts were conducted during project cruises on August 20-24, 2013, and August 18-24, 2014. Casts were conducted at project mooring sites located across the southwest Florida shelf: in the Northern Dry Tortugas, Southern Dry Tortugas, and at Pulley Ridge. Each mooring had an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) that recorded hourly measurements of near-surface and near-bottom water velocity, and bottom temperature. Each cast contains water column profile data (conductivity, temperature, depth, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll a fluorescence). Raw data were processed with a standard set of routines provided by the instrument manufacturer, the details of which may be accessed in the header of each data file.