National Status and Trends Mussel Watch Contaminant Data 1984-1989

This dataset contains measurements of contaminants in bivalves and sediments from the US coasts and Hawaii, collected under NOAA's National Status and Trends Program. It includes data from three phases of the Mussel Watch program (1986-1989) covering 906 bivalve samples from 302 locations, plus Benthic Surveillance data from 1984-1986. The data was analyzed by Battelle Ocean Sciences for pollutants like PAHs, DDTs, pesticides, and trace metals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial trends of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace metals across US coastal sites.
• Correlating contaminant levels in bivalve tissue with species type, shell length, and gonadal indices.
• Comparing sediment pollutant concentrations (e.g., total DDTs) with concurrent bivalve tissue samples from the same locations.
• Tracking changes in chlorinated pesticide levels over three distinct sampling phases from 1986 to 1989.

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals importance and reliability.
• Provides detailed sample counts: 906 bivalves from 302 locations across three phases.
• Includes concurrent sediment data from the Benthic Surveillance Program for 491 samples across two phases.
• Data collection spans a multi-year period from 1984 to 1989, allowing for temporal analysis.

Limitations

• Specific column names and data structure are unknown from provided sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 and 1988-04-05).
• Benthic sediment/fish data is incomplete, available only for Phases 1 and 2.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Collection Method

Field sampling and laboratory analysis by Battelle Ocean Sciences.

Time Range

1984-01-01 to 1989-03-29

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:32:47.752546

Geography

East, west, and Gulf coasts of the United States, plus two sites in Hawaii.