Florida Keys Coral Bleaching Observations from Volunteer Reports in 2017

BleachWatch data from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary documents coral condition from June to October 2017. NOAA NCEI archives this dataset containing volunteer-submitted reports on bleaching severity, affected coral types, and site-specific environmental conditions. Observers provided information on location, water temperature, wind speed, and coral health indicators.

Use Cases

• Classify bleaching_severity (no bleaching, paling, bleached only on the upper surface, completely bleached) using features like water_temperature, air_temperature, and reef_zone.
• Analyze the correlation between environmental conditions (wind_speed, cloud_cover, water_temperature_at_depth) and the percent_of_overall_coral_cover_affected.
• Map the spatial distribution of reported bleaching events using GPS_coordinates and assess patterns by site characteristics like water_depth and reef_zone.
• Identify which coral_growth_forms (brain, branching, fleshy, etc.) are most frequently reported in the bleaching_observations for different severity levels.
• Monitor for co-occurring stressors by analyzing reports of coral_disease or mortality in other_species_of_interest like fire coral and gorgonians.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a critical 5-month period (June-October 2017) during peak seasonal warming.
• Reports include structured observations for multiple data dimensions: site information, environmental conditions, bleaching severity, and affected coral types.
• Program design emphasizes the importance of 'no bleaching' reports, which helps reduce positive observation bias.

Limitations

• Dataset size, row count, and specific sample size are unknown, limiting statistical power assessments.
• Data is from a single year and geographic region (Florida Keys), limiting generalizability to other reefs or time periods.
• Relies on volunteer observer reports, which may introduce variability in data collection methods and accuracy.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), accession 0168768.

Collection Method

Volunteer observer reports submitted via a standardized BleachWatch form after in-water surveys.

Time Range

2017-06-03 to 2017-10-30

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2017-10-30; the dataset is a historical snapshot.

Geography

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.