Rose Atoll Marine Survey of Fish and Invertebrate Biotas

Rose Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean was the site of a visual marine biodiversity survey conducted over two days in August 2012. The cruise report summarizes observations of fish, invertebrate, and macroalgal biotas from underwater transects at eight sites, using Reef Life Survey methodology. Data was submitted by the US State Department and is hosted by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Comparing reef biota composition at Rose Atoll to other Pacific sites like the Cook Islands, Samoa, and Niue.
• Analyzing species distribution and abundance from visual transect surveys.
• Supporting marine protected area management and ecological assessments for Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.

Strengths

• Survey conducted using standardized Reef Life Survey methodology, enabling cross-regional comparisons.
• Data covers eight distinct survey sites within Rose Atoll, providing spatial coverage.

Limitations

• The dataset is a cruise report in PDF/DOCX format, not a structured tabular dataset with defined columns.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2012-08-23 vs 2026-03 05).

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI, via the World Data Service for Oceanography.

Collection Method

Visual survey using underwater transects.

Time Range

2012-08-22 to 2012-08-23

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:39:23.490938

Geography

Rose Atoll, South Pacific Ocean.