Data and Reports Explorer

This document contains analytical methods that detail the procedures for determining major and trace element concentrations in bivalve tissue and sediment samples collected as part of the National Status and Trends Program (NS&T) for the years 2000-2006. Previously published NOAA Technical Memoranda NOS ORCA 71 and 130 (Lauenstein and Cantillo, ...

Marine managers routinely use spatial data to make decisions about their marine environment. Uncertainty associated with this spatial data can have profound impacts on these management decisions and their projected outcomes. Recent advances in modeling techniques, including species distribution models (SDMs), make it easier to generate continuous maps showing the ...

NCCOS has recently completed predictive habitat suitability models for 21 species and groups of deep corals in the Gulf of Mexico, including framework-forming deep corals. These models are being used to advise the Gulf of Mexico FMC on possible deep coral protection zones, and have also been used by BOEM, ...

This report describes a spatial characterization conducted to support the development of an integrated management plan for Puerto Rico's Northeast Marine Corridor. The Northeast Marine Corridor is a large, landsea reserve network, making it unique in the region for both its size and the integrated land-sea geographical scope. Here we ...

Topobathymetric lidar is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for benthic habitat mapping, enabling safe, efficient data acquisition over coral reefs and other fragile ecosystems. In 2014, a novel topobathymetric lidar system, the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar-B (EAARL-B), was used to acquire data in priority habitat areas in the U.S ...

This Southern Florida Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (MIP) presents a framework for the development of shallow-water ( -0-40 m; 0-22 fm) benthic habitat and bathymetric maps of critical areas in southern Florida. It also discusses the need to develop moderate-depth ( -40-200 m; 22 -109 fm) bathymetric maps ...

This Freely Associated States Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (FAS MIP) presents a framework for the development of shallow-water (~0-40 m; 0-22 fm) benthic habitat and possibly bathymetric maps of critical areas of the Freely Associated States (FAS). The FAS is made up of three self-governing groups of islands ...

The state of Hawai'i is working to develop local renewable energy sources to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Most of the State's potential renewable energy resources (notably, wind) are located in federal waters from 3 to 200 nm offshore. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regulates the leasing, ...

This accession contains analyses and data products used in a marine biogeographic assessment of the main Hawaiian Islands. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regulates the leasing, construction and operation of renewable energy projects in federal waters, and is required to evaluate potential human, coastal and marine impacts from ...

The results of three different approaches are used to investigate relationships between nitrogen availability and phytoplankton primary production and abundance in coastal ecosystems. The three approaches are controlled experiments in marine enclosures, history of changes in coastal ecosystems, and cross-system comparisons. Most systems can be expected to have increased primary ...

Techniques for positive re-identification of finfish are well developed and are used to estimate vital rates, migration patterns and stock structure. Fluorochrome dyes, like nontoxic calcein, have been used with success to mark hard parts of fish and the shells of some molluscs. Yet, despite the commercial and ecological importance ...

The continued development of effective mark and recapture tools for marine invertebrates is required to better understand fundamental planktonic processes such as larval transport and mortality. Mass chemical marking methods provide researchers with the ability to mark large quantities of individuals at one time with reduced handling stress and costs ...

In situ persistence of coastal marsh habitat as sea level rises depends on whether macrophytes induce compensatory accretion of the marsh surface. Experimental planters in two North Carolina marshes served to expose two dominant macrophyte species to six different elevations spanning 0.75 m (inundation durations 0.4–99 %). Spartina alterniflora and ...

The goal of this project, funded by NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program and requested by local partners, was to monitor water quality in three rivers that drain to the Achang Reef Flat Marine Preserve at the southern tip of Guam, in order to provide a baseline of conditions for environmental ...

This book summarizes what is known about mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) geographically and by major taxa. MCEs are characterized by light-dependent corals and associated communities typically found at depths ranging from 30-40 m and extending to over 150 m in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. They are populated with organisms typically ...

This report is based on one of the recommendations from the 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) "Scientific Workshop on Coral Reef Resilience in Planning and Decision-support Frameworks" to address the question can intermediate depth reefs serve as "lifeboats" for increasingly stressed coral reef ecosystems? This question was addressed by ...

MCEs are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. The existence of corals at mesophotic depths has been known since at least 1889, when Darwin reported the discovery of corals at depths of 128 m (Darwin 1889). However, it was not until the 1960s and 1970s that direct observation of MCEs ...

MCEs are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. The existence of corals at mesophotic depths has been known since at least 1889, when Darwin reported the discovery of corals at depths of 128 m (Darwin 1889). However, it was not until the 1960s and 1970s that direct observation of MCEs ...

Efforts to map coral reef ecosystems in the Hawaiian Archipelago using optical imagery have revealed the presence of numerous scleractinian, zoothanthellate coral reefs at depths of 30–130+ m, most of which were previously undiscovered. Such coral reefs and their associated communities have been recently defined as mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) ...

On July 12-15, 2008, researchers and resource managers met in Jupiter, Florida to discuss and review the state of knowledge regarding mesophotic coral ecosystems, develop a working definition for these ecosystems, identify critical resource management information needs, and develop a Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Research Strategy to assist the U.S. National ...