Shallow Water CTD Profiles for Mariana Archipelago Coral Reefs

Vertical profiles of water column properties from the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. Data includes conductivity, temperature, pressure, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen from casts up to 30 meters deep around the Mariana Archipelago. NOAA's Coral Reef Ecosystem Program collected these measurements to characterize the physical and chemical environment influencing coral reef resources.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical salinity and temperature gradients to identify water mass influences on reef sites.
• Correlating turbidity (beam transmittance) profiles with coral health observations from separate Rapid Ecological Assessments.
• Assessing dissolved oxygen saturation levels in near-shore habitats to monitor potential hypoxic stress.
• Characterizing the spatial structure of the ocean environment across islands like Aguihan, Alamagan, and Asuncion.

Strengths

• Sensor accuracy is documented: 0.0002°C for temperature, 0.005 S m⁻¹ for conductivity, and 2% of saturation for dissolved oxygen.
• Data collection follows a standardized protocol using Sea-Bird Electronics SBE19-plus and SBE43 sensors with defined descent rates.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov indicates recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and a complete column list are unavailable across all sources.
• The license governing data use is not specified in any provided source description.
• The last updated date is inconsistently reported, with one source showing 2026-04-01 and another showing null.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program.

Collection Method

Profiling CTD casts from a small boat at a descent rate of 0.5 to 0.75 m/s, processed with Sea-Bird SeaSoft software.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:26:24.085613

Geography

Selected sites across the Mariana Archipelago, including Aguihan, Alamagan, and Asuncion Islands.