The NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) 5km-resolution Regional Satellite Coral Disease Outbreak Risk Monitoring Products estimate the potential for infectious disease outbreak in the upcoming summer season for select coral reef regions; i.e., the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and the Hawaiian Archipelago. Initially released in September 2009 at 50km-resolution, the products are now in Version 2.0 (v2, released on June 11, 2019); are derived using NOAA CRW’s v3.1 daily global 5km-resolution CoralTemp Sea Surface Temperature (SST) product; and are available from January 1, 1985 to the present. The Coral Disease Outbreak Risk products are comprised of multiple metrics/variables developed by CRW, including Winter Cold Snap, Winter Conditions, Seasonal Outlook, Summer Hot Snap, and Current Summer Outbreak Risk. The Winter Cold Snap metric accumulates anomalously cold temperatures through time, as compared with the usual range of winter temperatures, providing an indication of unusually cold events. Such events reflect a reduction in disease pathogen loading during extreme cold periods. The Winter Conditions metric accumulates temperature anomalies during the cold season as compared with the average temperature observed in the three coldest months ("winter") at each location. It represents the variation in temperature during the most recent cold season from the climatological average condition. Mild winters (i.e., neither cool nor warm) have been linked to subsequent outbreaks of White Syndrome disease in corals. Research has shown that such outbreaks have not occurred following cool or warm winters, likely related to a reduction in disease pathogen abundance and an increase in host resistance, respectively. The Seasonal Outlook is based solely on the two described cold season metrics; it gives a measure of the pre-disposition to disease outbreak during the following warm season. Only locations that experience mild Winter Conditions are considered to be at-risk, with the likelihood defined by the presence/absence of unusual Cold Snaps. The Seasonal Outlook value is issued at the end of the cold season for each region and provides a 3-6 month forecast of the likelihood of disease outbreak. The Summer Hot Snap metric accumulates anomalously hot temperatures through time, as compared with the usual range of summer temperatures, providing an indication of unusually hot events. This metric represents the level of hot stress that corals experience. The Current Summer Outbreak Risk is assigned only for locations that are deemed at-risk in the Seasonal Outlook and is defined by the level of Hot Snap experienced during the subsequent warm period. Outbreak Risk in the yellow-to-red range indicates that there is a significant likelihood of coral disease, increasing linearly with the color scale. The Current Summer Outbreak Risk is updated in near real-time during the warm season for each region, on Monday and Thursday. For the Great Barrier Reef region, the warm season is from October to the following April each year. The 5km Regional Satellite Coral Disease Outbreak Risk Monitoring Products, their detailed descriptions, and available data formats and delivery mechanisms are accessible at https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/disease/index.php, and for the Great Barrier Reef region in particular, at https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/disease/dz_gbr.php.
The NOAA Coral Reef Watch Coral Disease Outbreak Risk Monitoring Products were developed primarily for monitoring and assessing coral disease outbreak, as decision support tools to provide critical and timely coral reef environment information to the U.S. and international coral reef communities.
The Coral Disease Outbreak Risk products and SST data mentioned in this metadata file are accessible at: https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/disease/index.php.
ground condition
Not intended for legal use. Data may contain inaccuracies due to cloud cover and/or other reasons.
NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP), 5830 University Research Ct., E/RA32
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/data/disease/v2/image/gbr/dz_gbr_20200430_cdw_wdw.png
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/data/disease/v2/image/gbr/dz_gbr_20200430_hdw_wdw.png
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/data/disease/v2/image/gbr/dz_gbr_20200430_cdw.png
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/data/disease/v2/image/gbr/dz_gbr_20200430_wdw.png
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/data/disease/v2/image/gbr/dz_gbr_20200430_hdw.png
The accuracy of the Coral Disease Outbreak Risk product metrics depends on the accuracy of CRW's Version 3.1 daily global 5km CoralTemp sea surface temperature (SST) product (which was developed from a combination of the NOAA/NESDIS operational daily global 5km Geostationary (Geo)-Polar-orbiting (Polar) Blended Night-only SST Analysis; NOAA/NESDIS 2002-2016 reprocessed daily global 5km Geo-Polar Blended Night-only SST Analysis; and the United Kingdom Met Office’s 1985-2002 daily global 5km night-only SST reanalysis on the OSTIA), CRW's related SST climatologies, and the product algorithms. More detailed information can be found on CRW's 5km products methodology page (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/5km/methodology.php). While we continue to evaluate the performance and accuracy of CRW's Version 3.1 daily global 5km CoralTemp SST, preliminary analysis of the 5km Coral Disease Outbreak Risk metrics for the Great Barrier Reef has demonstrated success in denoting disease outbreak events.
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There is no spatial data gap existing in this dataset. Because this is currently an experimental product undergoing research and development, product revisions are anticipated. When a revision is needed, the whole product time series (both current and archived product) will be reprocessed to replace the existing product time series. The near real-time disease monitoring product metrics will be updated continuously and added into past data collections once a year.
Users are referred to CRW's 5km products methodology page (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/5km/methodology.php), the product description on CRW's Version 3.1 daily global 5km CoralTemp SST product page (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/5km/index_5km_sst.php), and to the NOAA/NESDIS Geo-Polar Blended SST website (https://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cw/satellite-data-products/sea-surface-temperature/sea-surface-temperature-near-real-time-geopolar-blended.html) for more information.
The Coral Disease Outbreak Risk product metrics were derived from this SST product.
At each pixel, the CoralTemp SST value is evaluated to derive the Winter Cold Snap, Winter Conditions, and Summer Hot Snap metrics, which are used for generating the Seasonal Outlook and Current Summer Outbreak Risk metrics. See the CRW website at https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/disease/index.php and suggested references listed above for more details.
These are the image displays of the Coral Disease Outbreak Risk metric data.
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/product/disease/index.php
NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data and images, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these images, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.
Coral Disease Outbreak Risk web page
The products, in various formats, may be downloaded from the website or obtained directly from the distributor.
