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General Information

File Identifier:	gov.noaa.nodc:0239474
Metadata Date Stamp:	2021-08
Organization:	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Organization Role:	custodian

Identification Information

Title:

National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Cover Derived from Analysis of Benthic Images Collected for Climate Stations across the Pacific Remote Island Areas from 2018-06-08 to 2018-08-10 (NCEI Accession 0239474)

Abstract:

The coral reef benthic community data described here result from the annotation (classification) of benthic images collected during photoquadrat surveys at permanent sites in the islands and atolls of the Pacific-Remote Island Areas (PRIA) in 2018. These surveys are conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD, formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) as part of NOAA's ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) according to protocols established by ESD and NCRMP during ESD-led NCRMP missions to PRIA from 2014 to 2018. SCUBA divers conducted benthic photoquadrat surveys at permanent sites established in coral reef habitats by ESD. A select number of these sites were chosen in hard-bottom habitat at ~15-m depths, and a subset of the permanent sites (climate stations) were established at north, south, east, and west points around each of the islands and atolls. The divers estimated and delineated each site’s rectangular perimeter by temporarily placing measuring tapes with 1-m markers starting from a permanently installed reference stake on the reef. Along the nearshore 10-m side of the survey site and the downslope 5-m side, the measuring tapes marked every meter of the L-shaped 15-m transect used for photoquadrat documentation. The divers photographed the reef at 1-m intervals on both sides of the 15-m tape, generating 30 photographs per survey site. Benthic habitat images were quantitatively analyzed using the web-based annotation tool, CoralNet (Beijbom et al. 2015). Ten points were randomly overlaid on each image and human analysts identified the organism or type of substrate beneath, with 300 annotations (points) generated per site. Benthic elements falling under each point were identified to genus/morphology for hard corals, and to genus/functional group for algae, invertebrates, and other taxa following Lozada-Misa et al. (2017). In general, the analysis resulted in three levels of benthic community data, including taxa group (Tier 1: hard coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), morphology (Tier 2: massive, branching, upright macroalgae, etc.), and genus (Tier 3). These benthic data can ultimately be used to produce estimates of relative abundance (percentage of benthic cover), frequency of occurrence, benthic community taxonomic composition, and relative generic richness.

Browse Graphic

Browse Graphic URL:	https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/gfx?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0239474
Browse Graphic Caption:	Preview graphic
Browse Graphic Type:	PNG

Data Theme

Theme Topics:

Environment and Conservation, Oceans and Estuaries, Biology and Ecology

Spatial Domain

West Bounding Longitude:	-176.624
South Bounding Latitude:	-.3824
East Bounding Longitude:	-159.9788
North Bounding Latitude:	6.4388

Data Quality Information

Scope (quality information applies to):

Dataset

Contact Information

Email:	ncei.info@noaa.gov
Contact Website:	https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact

Metadata Reference Information

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