Ocean Bottom Water Chemistry and Temperature Data from Hawaii OTEC Plant 1993-2007

1993 to 2007 data from quarterly bottom water sampling at the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) facility in Keahole, Hawaii. Measurements include temperature, salinity, bacteria counts, and 12 water chemistry parameters, collected from five stations along six transects by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA). The dataset was archived by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term temperature and salinity trends near an OTEC discharge point.
• Modeling the dispersion of cold, dense seawater released into the ocean environment.
• Assessing correlations between bacterial indicators (e.g., enterococci, fecal coliform) and water chemistry parameters.
• Studying spatial variation across six established sampling transects and five stations.
• Investigating the rationale for discontinuing bottom sampling based on similarity to surface water data.

Strengths

• Covers a 14-year time series from 1993 to 2007, providing a long-term baseline.
• Includes measurements for 15+ specific parameters: temperature, salinity, bacteria, and 12 water chemistry metrics.
• Data collection followed a structured program with five stations along six defined transects.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Exact row count, file size, and complete column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-05, while NASA EarthData lists 2007-04 16.
• Original data format is legacy Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which may require conversion for modern analysis.

Provenance

Source

Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), archived by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Quasi-quarterly measurements collected from small boats at ocean bottom sampling stations.

Time Range

1993 to 2007

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:41:32.050084

Geography

Keahole Point, west coast of the Island of Hawaii, Kailua-Kona.