Pacific Remote Islands Shallow Water CTD Profiles for Coral Reef Monitoring

Near-shore shallow water Conductivity-Temperature-Depth surveys provide vertical profiles to a maximum depth of 30 meters. These surveys, part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, characterize the physical and chemical properties influencing coral reef resources in the Pacific Remote Island Areas. Data collection uses Sea-Bird Electronics SBE19-plus and SBE43 sensors with specified accuracy levels.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature and salinity to identify water mass structures near coral reefs.
• Correlating dissolved oxygen and turbidity measurements with reef health assessments from Rapid Ecological Surveys.
• Monitoring local seawater chemistry changes over time at selected Pacific island sites.
• Characterizing the spatial structure of physical ocean properties influencing living reef resources.

Strengths

• Sensor accuracy is documented: 0.0002°C for temperature, 0.005 S m⁻¹ for conductivity, and 2% of saturation for dissolved oxygen.
• Profiles are collected using a standardized method from the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, ensuring consistency.
• Data includes multiple key oceanographic variables: conductivity, temperature, pressure, beam transmittance, and dissolved oxygen.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and specific license are not provided by any source.
• The temporal coverage and the exact number of survey locations are unspecified.
• All platform descriptions are identical, suggesting potential syndication without additional unique details.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected by lowering a CTD package in profiling mode from a small boat at 0.5-0.75 m/s, processed using Seabird SeaSoft SBE Data Processing Software.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-06 00:11:04.973837

Geography

Selected sites around the Pacific Remote Island Areas