Pacific Coral Reef Geospatial and Temperature Data from Towed-Diver Surveys

NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center collected geospatial, temperature, and depth data from towed-diver surveys of coral reef ecosystems across the U.S. Pacific Islands from 2000 to 2017. The dataset includes over 17 years of continuous monitoring across the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. Data was gathered by towing SCUBA divers behind a boat, with instrumentation recording location, temperature, and depth every 5 seconds.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial distribution of reef habitats using georeferenced survey tracks and segments provided as shapefiles.
• Investigating long-term temperature trends at reef depths by utilizing the 5-second interval temperature records from SeaBird SBE39 sensors.
• Modeling benthic community changes over time by correlating survey locations and environmental data across a 17-year period.
• Calibrating remote sensing data for coral reefs by using in-situ temperature and depth measurements collected at approximately 15-meter contours.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a 17-year time range from 2000-09-09 to 2017-06-20, providing a long-term ecological record.
• High-frequency 5-second recording intervals for GPS position, water temperature, and depth ensure detailed temporal resolution.
• Surveys cover a wide geographic area including multiple U.S. Pacific Island archipelagos and territories.
• Standardized towed-diver method with paired benthic and fish divers ensures consistent observational data collection.

Limitations

• Conflicting metadata exists for the last update date, with one source listing 2026-04-01 and another listing 2017-06-20, suggesting potential data freshness issues.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and a complete column schema are not provided by any source, limiting precise assessment of dataset scale and structure.
• The dataset concludes in 2017, and its relevance for current reef conditions may be limited without more recent updates.

Provenance

Source

Ecosystem Sciences Division (formerly Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC).

Collection Method

Towed-diver (towboard) surveys where SCUBA divers were towed behind a boat for 50-minute intervals, with data recorded via instrumented towboards and boat GPS.

Time Range

2000-09 09 to 2017-06-20

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:27:23.328088

Geography

Hawaiian Archipelago, Mariana Archipelago, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas.