Coral Bleaching Survey Data from Lord Howe Island During El Niño-La Niña Transition

Australian Ocean Data Network hosts survey data quantifying the response of approximately 42,000 coral colonies to successive marine heatwaves. Coral health surveys were completed between March 2010 and September 2012 around Lord Howe Island, assessing bleaching severity, mortality, and recovery. The data was collected to study the impact of a fast phase transition from a record-breaking El Niño to a strong La Niña event.

Use Cases

• Modeling coral bleaching susceptibility based on taxa-specific responses mentioned in the description
• Analyzing benthic community shifts from coral-dominated to macroalgae-dominated assemblages described in the study
• Assessing coral recovery rates and resilience following successive thermal anomalies
• Studying the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase transitions on high-latitude reef ecosystems

Strengths

• Data covers approximately 42,000 coral colonies, providing a substantial sample size
• Surveys span a multi-year period from March 2010 to September 2012, capturing before, during, and after event states
• Description specifies bleaching severity ranged from 99% at shallow sites to 17% at deeper sites, offering quantified impact metrics

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing solely on Lord Howe Island

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Coral health surveys quantifying bleaching response and benthic community composition

Time Range

March 2010 to September 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 00:30:02.359951; freshness should be verified

Geography

High-latitude coral reef assemblages around Lord Howe Island