Hawaii Coastal Water Chemistry Data from Eight Shoreline Sites

1988 to 2011 data contains 14 coastal water quality parameters measured at over 20 sub-sites across seven shoreline locations on the west side of Hawaii Island and one site on Lanai. The dataset was collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration using established instruments and methods, with sampling frequency varying from once to eleven times per year per location. It provides a multi-decade record of chemical aspects like turbidity, chlorophyll-a, orthophosphate, and total organic nitrogen, but excludes bacterial measurements.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal trends in nutrient levels like orthophosphate and total organic nitrogen across Hawaiian coastal sites.
• Correlating water chemistry parameters such as turbidity and chlorophyll-a with local environmental events or land use changes.
• Assessing spatial variability in coastal water quality between the eight distinct shoreline locations over a 23-year period.
• Calibrating or validating regional oceanographic or water quality models with in-situ chemical measurement data.

Strengths

• Provides a 23-year temporal record (1988-2011) for long-term trend analysis.
• Includes data from over 20 sub-sites per location, offering detailed spatial granularity within each coastal area.
• Measures 14 distinct water chemistry parameters, enabling multi-variable assessment of water quality.

Limitations

• Exact row count, total size, and specific column names are not provided by any source, limiting precise data assessment.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 2011-06-29 and another listing 2026-03-05, creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• Sampling frequency was inconsistent, ranging from once to eleven times per year, which may create gaps for some time-series analyses.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Collected using well-established instruments and methodologies at shoreline sampling sites.

Time Range

1988 to 2011.

Freshness

Conflicting: datagov lists 2026-03-05, nasa_earthdata lists 2011-06-29.

Geography

Seven shoreline locations on the west side of the Island of Hawaii and one site on Lanai, Hawaii.