This dataset is a compilation of modeled current and future density distributions of threatened elkhorn corals Acropora palmata in the shallow water (bottom depth ≥ -20 m) off St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The raster data sets contain predicted distributions of species density and the prediction uncertainty in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2035 and 2055 estimated using process-based random forest (RF) and dynamic range models (DRM). These predictions were generated to inform Caribbean A. palmata restoration plans in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) and Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), working with scientists from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) in St. Thomas conducted a multi-year interdisciplinary research project which was a continuation of the 2007-2011 project using the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to conduct biological and physical oceanographic surveys of the Virgin Island's (VI) bank ecosystems and surrounding regional waters as well as areas around Jamaica, Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico . The long-term sustainability of fisheries in the VI and surrounding regions is dependent on a comprehensive understanding of regional spawning aggregations, larval transport, and overall larval recruitment in the study area. This survey sampled water properties, currents, and dispersal and transport of settlement-stage larvae in the VI and neighboring regions. Data in this archival package includes: processed larval fish data collected from the various net tows (BONGO, MOCNESS, etc.) , processed data from all conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) casts, processed data from all lowered acoustic Doppler profiler (LADCP) casts, processed hull-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (SADCP), processed sea surface, flow-through data collected with the ship's thermosalinograph (TSG) and fluorometer collected aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster during cruises NF-15-02, NF-15-03, NF-16-02, NF-16-03, NF-17-03 and NF-18-03 from 2015-04-11 to 2018-06-24.

This data collection contains geospatial data from models predicting the spatial distributions of deep-sea corals and sponges offshore of the continental U.S. West Coast to 1200 m depth. It includes raster datasets at 200 x 200 m spatial resolution depicting the mean of the predicted relative habitat suitability, the coefficient of variation of the predicted relative habitat suitability, the classified mean relative habitat suitability, and the ‘robust high’ habitat suitability prediction for each of 31 taxa of deep-sea corals and 15 taxa of sponges and raster datasets at 200 x 200 m spatial resolution depicting the number of taxa of deep-sea corals associated with hard substrate that have ‘high’ habitat suitability or ‘robust high’ habitat suitability at each grid cell. The data collection also includes raster datasets at 200 x 200 m spatial resolution depicting each of the 66 spatial environmental predictor variables considered for fitting the models.