The AOAT project is engaged in monitoring/modeling efforts designed to: a) establish methodologies for monitoring, assessing, and modeling the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA) on coral reef ecosystems, b) identify critical thresholds, impacts, and trends necessary for developing forecasts, c) characterize the variability in carbonate chemistry in coral reef environments, and d) provide data and information needed to inform ecological impact forecasting. Existing projections of OA on coral reef ecosystems (e.g. Silverman et al., 2009) make a core assumption that secular declines in carbonate mineral saturation state (O, a key parameter of OA interest) are equivalent to those experienced in the oceanic surface waters. Sustained observations at the AOAT, however, reveal considerable complexity and diverge from neighboring oceanic waters during most periods. Seasonal ranges in O-values exceed those anticipated as aconsequence of OA over the next several decades. Complexities within near-reef waters are likely the norm and we seek to better model the primary controls on near-reef carbonate chemistry. The AOAT has served as a critical venue to foster research from other agency and academic partners towards the development of techniques which can be applied to monitor OA within reef environments and quantify the local feedbacks that can alter rates and magnitude.

The AOAT project is engaged in monitoring/modeling efforts designed to: a) establish methodologies for monitoring, assessing, and modeling the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA) on coral reef ecosystems, b) identify critical thresholds, impacts, and trends necessary for developing forecasts, c) characterize the variability in carbonate chemistry in coral reef environments, and d) provide data and information needed to inform ecological impact forecasting. Existing projections of OA on coral reef ecosystems (e.g. Silverman et al., 2009) make a core assumption that secular declines in carbonate mineral saturation state (omega, a key parameter of OA interest) are equivalent to those experienced in the oceanic surface waters. Sustained observations at the AOAT, however, reveal considerable complexity and diverge from neighboring oceanic waters during most periods. Seasonal ranges in omega values exceed those anticipated as a consequence of OA over the next several decades. Complexities within near-reef waters are likely the norm and we seek to better model the primary controls on near-reef carbonate chemistry. The AOAT has served as a critical venue to foster research from other agency and academic partners towards the development of techniques which can be applied to monitor OA within reef environments and quantify the local feedbacks that can alter rates and magnitude.

The AOAT project is engaged in monitoring/modeling efforts designed to: a) establish methodologies for monitoring, assessing, and modeling the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA) on coral reef ecosystems, b) identify critical thresholds, impacts, and trends necessary for developing forecasts, c) characterize the variability in carbonate chemistry in coral reef environments, and d) provide data and information needed to inform ecological impact forecasting. Existing projections of OA on coral reef ecosystems (e.g. Silverman et al., 2009) make a core assumption that secular declines in carbonate mineral saturation state (O, a key parameter of OA interest) are equivalent to those experienced in the oceanic surface waters. Sustained observations at the AOAT, however, reveal considerable complexity and diverge from neighboring oceanic waters during most periods. Seasonal ranges in O-values exceed those anticipated as aconsequence of OA over the next several decades. Complexities within near-reef waters are likely the norm and we seek to better model the primary controls on near-reef carbonate chemistry. The AOAT has served as a critical venue to foster research from other agency and academic partners towards the development of techniques which can be applied to monitor OA within reef environments and quantify the local feedbacks that can alter rates and magnitude.

Scientists within the ACCRETE (Acidification, Climate, and Coral Reef Ecosystems Team) Lab of AOML_s Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division (OCED) have constructed a tool to monitor ocean acidification over the wider Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. This tool utilizes satellite data and a data-assimilative hybrid model to map the components of the carbonate system of surface water. This effort represents an update to the experimental Ocean Acidification Product Suite (OAPS) developed by Coral Reef Watch (http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/oa/index.php). To resolve the seawater carbonic acid system, we use the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and pH. Surface pCO2 is approximated by taking total tropospheric column CO2 from the AIRS mid-tropospheric CO2 and AMSU instruments on board the Aqua satellite (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/AIRS/data-holdings/by-data-product-v5/AIRX3C2M) and adjusting it for the marine boundary layer by replacing the annual cycle of the observed AIRS data with that from the NOAA Marine Boundary Layer (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/mbl/). Following this adjustment, seawater pCO2 is estimated using an empirical model relating the differential between sea surface and atmospheric CO2 partial pressure to changes in CO2 gas solubility (K0). Total alkalinity (TA) is calculated using the Subtropical/Tropical algorithm from Lee et al. (2006). Sea surface temperature is derived from an optimal interpolated product at 9km resolution (http://www.remss.com/measurements/sea-surface-temperature/oisst-description) and salinity is obtained from a data-assimilative hybrid model (HYCOM https://hycom.org/). These measurements, together with pCO2 and TA, allow calculation the complete carbonate system. Data are updated monthly at a 9km resolution. Initial results indicate good agreement with observed values from cruises and MAPCO2 buoys, but further testing and refinement of algorithms is planned.

This dataset includes lab-based measurements of ocean acidification on Caribbean bioeroders (endolithic algae and reef-excavating sponges) collected on Cheeca Rocks Reef, Florida Keys, Northwest Atlantic Ocean, from 2018-06-11 to 2018-07-12. Caribbean coral reef ecosystems have entered a state of net erosion in response to ocean acidification (OA) due to a combination of reduced carbonate production and enhanced bioerosion. The negative response of coral reef calcifiers to OA has been well-established, whereas OA-enhanced bioerosion is relatively poorly understood. Microboring algae and macroboring sponges are both major contributors to coral reef carbonate budgets (Perry et al., 2012). Microboring algae use exclusively chemical (extracellular ion transport) means (Garcia-Pichel, 2006) to break down carbonate framework, whereas macroboring sponges use a combination of both chemical (enzymatic dissolution) and mechanical (substrate dislodgment) methods (Rutzler and Rieger, 1973) to erode reef framework. Prior studies have found that both microboring algae and macroboring sponges appear to benefit from OA through both enhanced bioerosion and physiological fitness, but have disproportionally focused on the responses of Pacific Ocean species. Here, we independently evaluated the OA-response of two Caribbean bioeroders to quantify the impact of OA on their physiology and bioerosion rates.

Coral cores collected nearby the Atlantic Ocean Acidification Test-bed (AOAT) at La Parguera, Puerto Rico were used to characterize the relationship between paleo-variations in coral growth and calcification and seawater pH via the boron isotope proxy. This study addressed impacts of ocean acidification in a geological context to quantify baseline variability in growth and pH and assess the historical response of coral ecosystems to increased atmospheric CO2 and enhance on-going AOAT observations.

This data set was collected from a ocean acidification minicosm experiment performed at Davis Station, Antarctica during the 2014/15 summer season. It includes: - description of methods for all data collection and analyses. - environmental data logged throughout the experiment; nutrients, temperature, light climate. - carbonate chemistry data; pH (on Total scale), fugacity of CO2, dissolved inorganic carbon concentration, practical alkalinity, Omega calculations for both araganite and calcite. - product datasheet (including transmission spectra) of Osram 150W HQI-TS/NDL metal halide lamps.

To support a long-term NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) for sustainable management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems, from 2010-01-21 to 2010-04-24, reef fish assessment surveys were conducted, as a part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA), during the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise HA1001 in the Pacific Remote Island Areas region by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). During the cruise, 39 REA sites were surveyed at Johnston in the Pacific Remote Island Areas region. At each REA site, fish biologists entered the water and conducted a fine-scale (~700 m^2) and high degree of taxonomic resolution REA survey to assess and monitor species diversity, size distribution, and abundance of fish in shallow-water hard-bottom (less than 30 m) habitats. Reef fish assessment surveys were focused on cataloging the diversity (species richness), abundance (numeric density) and biomass (fish mass per unit area) of diurnally active reef fish assemblages. The stationary point count (SPC) method was used to quantify reef fish species. Two divers lay out a 30 m transect line, and position themselves at the 7.5 and 22.5 meter marks. The SPC biologist then records estimated size and abundance of all fish within a visually estimated 15-m diameter cylinder centered on the stationary diver (7.5-m radius, total area ~ 177m^2 per cylinder). The diver first spends 5 minutes identifying all fish species in the cylindrical area, then proceeds to count and estimate size (total length) for each in a series of "instantaneous" point counts or sweeps of the cylinder. Fish were identified at the species level, wherever possible. All reef-associated fish, including those in the water column, were surveyed. The survey time for each stationary point count survey was approximately 20 min and generally four stationary point count surveys (two per diver) were conducted at each fish REA site. After completing REA surveys, divers noted the presence, at the survey site, of any unusual fish species not counted during SPC counts, in order to facilitate species lists per location.