Coral Reef Acidification Data from NOAA Ship HI'IALAKAI

A dataset from NOAA and NASA EarthData supports a Nature Climate Change study on reef acidification. It contains bottom water temperature, salinity, pH, benthic cover, and dissolved inorganic carbon measurements. Data was collected during a 2014 cruise in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Use Cases

• Analyzing correlations between measured pH levels and shifts in benthic cover from coral to macroalgae.
• Modeling the relationship between dissolved inorganic carbon and water temperature under acidified conditions.
• Assessing spatial and temporal changes in salinity and other parameters during the 2014 survey period.

Strengths

• Data underpins a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Climate Change.
• Measurements include multiple key oceanographic variables (temperature, salinity, pH, DIC, benthic cover).
• Collection occurred during a dedicated NOAA research cruise, ensuring methodological consistency.

Limitations

• Critical metadata like row count, column names, and file formats are unavailable from all sources.
• A significant conflict exists: the last update date is listed as 2026-03 05 on Data.gov but 2014-08-13 on NASA EarthData, suggesting potential metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected from NOAA Ship HI'IALAKAI and other platforms.

Time Range

2014-05-17 to 2014-08-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:48:05.195607

Geography

Northern Mariana Islands