Marine Debris Survey and Removal in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Updated 3mo ago
17files
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center conducted annual in-water surveys from 1999 to 2015, and possibly to 2021, across reefs and atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Divers recorded descriptive information and GPS waypoints for debris larger than 0.012 cubic meters encountered during tow and swim surveys. The dataset likely contains details on debris type, color, size, biofouling, estimated depth, substrate, and removal volume.
Use Cases
Analyzing temporal trends in marine debris accumulation based on annual survey data from 1999 onward.
Mapping debris density and types across specific atolls like Midway, Kure, and Pearl and Hermes.
Assessing the effectiveness of removal efforts by correlating debris characteristics with removal volumes.
Studying the relationship between reef morphology, past accumulation records, and current debris findings.
Strengths
Surveys span a long-term period, with sources indicating coverage from 1999 to 2015, and one source extending to 2021.
Data collection followed standardized methods (tow and swim surveys) with specific size thresholds (0.012 cubic meters).
Records include detailed descriptive attributes and precise GPS locations for each debris item.
Limitations
Column names and data structure are unknown across all platform descriptions.
Conflicting time ranges: one source ends in 2015, another extends to 2021, creating uncertainty about temporal coverage.
Metadata for license, author, row count, and file size is consistently missing.