This archive package contains long-term calcification data from coral cores extracted from Cheeca Rocks and Little Conch Reef in the Florida Keys as part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program’s (CRCP’s) National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). Corals annually form bands within their skeletons that manifest as high-density lines perpendicular to their growth axes. By precisely measuring the spacing and density of these bands, scientists can obtain a record of linear extension and skeletal density, respectively. Linear extension and skeletal density are, in turn, used to calculate annual calcification. Cores are collected by diver, underwater, using a pneumatic drill rig. Once removed, the small (~5 cm diameter) lesions are plugged with epoxy, and the resulting cores are analyzed using computed tomography (CT). Coral core data included herein were collected at long-term monitoring sites by the Acidification Calcification and Coral Reef Ecosystems Team (ACCRETE), based at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML).

This data set contains photomosaic images of coral reef benthic communities, created as a product for the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program’s (CRCP) National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). Photomosaics are a composite of many underwater images, digitally stitched together into a single cohesive photo. These mosaics have approximately the same resolution and clarity of the component pictures but collectively produce a “landscape view” of the coral reef community within each plot. To produce a photomosaic, a scuba diver holds the mosaic rig, containing two separate cameras, above the reef plot while swimming back and forth in a crosshatch pattern. Images are taken from roughly one to two meters above the benthos, at a rate of one image per second per camera. This swimming technique allows the mosaic rig to gather 1500-3000 images which are then compiled into a single photomosaic using Photoscan (Agisoft). Six reef plots (10 m x 10 m each) were captured in La Parguera in Puerto Rico as part of this dataset. A total of six TIFF files are included in this data submission, each corresponding to one reef plot.

The ocean acidification diel suite is an autonomous instrument package that measures diel variability in coral reef seawater carbonate chemistry. Diel suite surveys are conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) within coral reef ecosystems across the Pacific Islands Region as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The data provided in this dataset are from diel suites deployed at select sites at Tutuila Island since 2015, during the ESD-led NCRMP missions to American Samoa. Diel suites are deployed on the reef for at least 24 hours to measure chemical and physical parameters at each site. Each diel suite typically consists of various sensors and up to 9 Programmable Underwater Collectors (PUCs) and/or Sub-surface Automated Samplers (SAS). The oceanographic sensors of each diel suite measure parameters such as salinity, temperature, pressure, pH, current direction and magnitude, dissolved oxygen (DO), and/or photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Seawater samples are collected in four-hour intervals for laboratory analyses of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA). Components of the carbonate system--including pH, pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide), and aragonite saturation state--are calculated from DIC, TA, temperature, salinity and pressure. Exceptions to the traditional diel suite survey and data collected are noted in each dataset as sensors could be added, removed, or have malfunctioned.

This dataset contains carbonate chemistry data collected at both random locations and existing long-term sites in the Florida Keys, Dry Tortugas, Flower Garden Banks and Southeast Florida as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). These data are collected and analyzed to assess spatial and temporal variation in the seawater carbonate systems of coral reef ecosystems and include two types of sampling methods. The first method is collected by hand or niskin at the surface, either from the boat or by SCUBA divers. The second method uses subsurface autosamplers where water samples provided in this dataset were collected at a depth of approximately 15m. Samples are either collected singularly or as part of a diurnal set. The samples are processed by the Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) where they are analyzed for total alkalinity (TA), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and Spectrophotometric pH. Using the analyzed TA and DIC, alongside temperature, salinity and depth data, AOML staff calculated other important carbonate chemistry system parameters such as pH, pCO2, and aragonite saturation and reported the results in this dataset.