Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database With Thermal Stress Metrics

Sea surface temperature and derived thermal stress metrics provide a global record for coral reef and climate studies. The CoRTAD Version 2 dataset offers weekly data at approximately 4 km resolution from 1982 through 2009. It was created by NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with support from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between coral bleaching events and prolonged thermal stress using the Degree Heating Week (DHW) metrics.
• Tracking weekly sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) over a 28-year period to study climate change impacts on marine ecosystems.
• Mapping global thermal stress frequency for coral reef conservation planning and management.
• Comparing baseline climatological SST with observed weekly SST to identify anomalous warming events.
• Investigating the cumulative heat stress (TSA_DHW) on specific reef regions over multiple seasons.

Strengths

• Provides a long temporal record spanning 28 years from 1982 to 2009.
• Offers high spatial resolution of approximately 4 km, suitable for reef-scale studies.
• Includes multiple derived thermal stress metrics (SSTA, TSA, DHW, Frequency) specifically designed for coral reef applications.
• Demonstrates cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov, indicating established use and importance.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the exact version and temporal coverage, with descriptions referencing both Version 2 (1982-2008/2009) and a Version 3 title.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided in any source description.
• The data format is specified as HDF5 for Version 2, which may require specialized software for access and analysis.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC/NCEI) in partnership with the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

Collection Method

Derived from satellite-based sea surface temperature observations, processed into weekly composites and thermal stress metrics.

Time Range

1982-01-01 to 2009-12-31

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:33:36.706615

Geography

Global coverage.