In an effort to detect spatial and temporal changes in the structure of the coral reef community, coral coverage and reef fish density and diversity were documented at selected sites along the coastline of the Big Island of Hawaii using standard transect methodology and SCUBA. The data were collected as training for students within the Quantitative Underwater Ecological Surveying Techniques (QUEST) Program of the Kalakaua Marine Educational Center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Several sites have been established. This database contains surveys for Puako and Mahukona from 1992 - 1999. Because of the disparity of experience among the student observers, this data set contains a much higher margin of error than like surveys by professional coral reef scientists.

In an effort to detect spatial and temporal changes in the structure of the coral reef community, coral coverage and reef fish density and diversity were documented at selected sites along the Maui coastline using standard transect methodology and SCUBA. Physical parameters examined included: wave exposure, water motion, sedimentation levels and water quality (temperature, salinity, and turbidity). Nine long-term monitoring sites have been established since 1989.

This dataset contains the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program carbonate chemistry data from Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands from 2022-04-12 to 2022-08-10. The project monitors changes to coral reef carbonate chemistry over time, at U.S.-affiliated Pacific coral reef sites, through quantifying key chemical parameters that are expected to change with ocean acidification. This effort addresses multiple OAP programmatic mission areas by maintaining the coral reef portion of the OA monitoring network and developing a procedure for data synthesis, assimilation, and distribution. Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach, this project collects, processes, analyzes, and stewards dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) water sample data to document seawater carbonate chemistry at Class 0, I, II, and III climate monitoring sites in coral reef areas of the U.S. Pacific region.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (NOWRAMP) began in 2000 with the mission to rapidly evaluate and map the shallow water reef habitats in the NWHI. Utilizing two research vessels Rapture and NOAA Ship Townsend Cromwell, researchers spent 30 days at sea visiting each of the ten major islands, atolls and reefs in the remote region of the Hawaiian archipelago. This dataset is a small subset from these cruises. It includes spreadsheet data files on habitats, coral cores, coral species, substrate types, and substrate type percent bottom cover. A descriptive document is also included which was the basis for groundtruthing images from remote sensing. These descriptions give a wide range of information on coral and reef fish species abundance and distribution.

This data package contains coral reef community composition data gathered during Line-Point-Intercept (LPI) surveys around the islands of Maui, Hawaii, and Oahu of the main Hawaiian Islands from March 8, 2010 to November 8, 2011 as part of a joint project with the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) and the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR). The line-point-intercept (LPI) method (Hill and Wilkinson 2004) is used to assess the percentage of cover for live corals and other benthic elements. The surveys were conducted by a SCUBA diver swimming along two pre-selected 25-m transect lines, during which the benthic element falling directly beneath the transect line was recorded at 25- or 50-cm intervals for 100 or 50 total points/observations per transect, respectively. Benthic elements were assigned to one of ten benthic categories: live (scleractinian) corals, octocorals, dead corals, coralline algae, macroalgae, turf algae, cyanophyes, zoanthids, other sessile macro-invertebrates, and sand. Benthic organisms were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (corals, macroalgae, and zoanthids to genus or species). Turf algae included pavement, rock, rubble, and turf algae observations.

The data described here result from near-shore shallow water and offshore Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) casts conducted at select sites around American Samoa as part of the ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). These surveys were conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD; formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) during an ESD-led NCRMP mission to American Samoa in 2023. The CTD casts provide vertical profiles (30-m max depth, downcast only) of water column conductivity, temperature, and pressure, with calculated depth, salinity, and water density. The CTD (RBR Concerto3) was deployed from a small boat using a hand line and held just under the surface for 1 minute to equilibrate sensors. Afterward, data were collected by lowering the CTD in profiling mode at an even pace (descent rate ~0.5 to 0.75 meters per second) to a maximum depth of ~30 m. Offshore (~10-15km from land) CTD profiles were collected from the ship to a maximum depth of ~10m. Data processing was performed using RBR Ruskin Data Processing Software and the R package "oce".