Shallow Water CTD Profiles for Coral Reef Monitoring in American Samoa

Ongoing surveys since at least 2026 collect vertical profiles of water column properties around American Samoa as part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. Each cast measures conductivity, temperature, pressure, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen to a maximum depth of 30 meters. The data characterize the physical and chemical ocean environment influencing coral reef resources.

Use Cases

• Analyzing water mass structure and seawater chemistry changes based on vertical profiles of conductivity, temperature, and salinity.
• Correlating physical oceanographic conditions with coral reef health observations from concurrent Rapid Ecological Assessments.
• Monitoring coastal water quality and turbidity over time at selected near-shore sites.
• Calibrating and validating regional oceanographic models using high-accuracy sensor data.

Strengths

• Data collection uses high-accuracy instrumentation, including a Sea-Bird SBE19-plus CTD with specified accuracies (e.g., 0.0002°C in temperature).
• Surveys are part of a long-term, ongoing national monitoring program (NCRMP), suggesting consistent methodology.
• Profiles include multiple parameters (conductivity, temperature, pressure, turbidity, dissolved oxygen) for a holistic water column assessment.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• The temporal coverage is unclear; the 'last updated' date is future-dated (2026-04-01), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• The spatial coverage is limited to selected near-shore sites around American Samoa.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected by lowering a CTD package from a small boat in profiling mode at a descent rate of 0.5 to 0.75 m/s.

Time Range

Ongoing (program described as 'ongoing'; specific start date not provided)

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:04:14.978912 (datagov), but this date is in the future, casting doubt on its accuracy.

Geography

Selected near-shore sites around American Samoa