Data and Reports Explorer

In 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched the Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP) following the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The goal of the DSCRTP is to provide scientific information needed to manage, conserve and protect deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems ...

This guidance manual provides technical assistance, outlines necessary steps, and provides useful tools for the development and implementation of sound scientific monitoring of coastal restoration efforts and offers a means to detect early warnings that the restoration is on track or not, to gauge how well a restoration site is ...

This guidance manual provides  technical assistance and useful tools for the development and implementation of sound scientific monitoring of coastal restoration efforts. It also provides detailed information of the habitats, an inventory of coastal restoration monitoring program, a review of monitoring techniques manuals and quality control/quality assurance documents, an overview of governmental acts affiliated ...

Coral reefs are subjected globally to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors that often act synergistically. Today, reversing ongoing and future coral reef degradation presents significant challenges and countering this negative trend will take considerable efforts and investments. Scientific knowledge can inform and guide the requisite decision-making process and ...

The University of Miami’s R/V Walton Smith Cruise No. WS1213 was conducted from August 14 to 25, 2012 on Pulley Ridge, a mesophotic reef in the Gulf of Mexico off southwestern Florida. This cruise was funded in part by the NOAA-NOS-NCCOS grant titled ‘Connectivity of the Pulley Ridge - South ...

Coastal hypoxia (dissolved oxygen ? 2 mg/L) is a growing problem worldwide that threatens marine ecosystem services, but little is known about economic effects on fisheries. Here, we provide evidence that hypoxia causes economic impacts on a major fishery. Ecological studies of hypoxia and marine fauna suggest multiple mechanisms through ...

The coastal waters of the northern portion of the California Current System experience a seasonal decline in oxygen concentrations and hypoxia over the summer upwelling season that results in negative impacts on habitat for many organisms. Using a regional model extending from 43°N to 50°N, with an oxygen component developed ...

Moored observations are used to investigate the seasonal change in vertical structure of the cross-shelf circulation at a midshelf location in the northern California Current System. A streamwise–normal coordinate system is employed to eliminate meander- and eddy-induced biases in the cross-shelf flow that are unaccounted for with an alternative, commonly ...

The presence of neurotoxic species within the genus Alexandrium along the U.S. coastline has raised concern of potential poisoning through the consumption of contaminated seafood. Paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) detected in shellfish provide evidence that these harmful events have increased in frequency and severity along the California coast during the ...

Although sediment dynamics exert a fundamental control on the character and distribution of reefs, data on sediment dynamics in mesophotic systems are scarce. In this study, sediment traps and benthic photo-transects were used to document spatial and temporal patterns of suspended-sediment and bed-load dynamics at two geomorphically distinct mesophotic coral ...

Benthic–pelagic coupling in shallow estuarine and coastal environments is an important mode of particle and solute exchange and can influence lag times in the recovery of eutrophic ecosystems. Links between the water column and sediments are mediated by particulate organic matter (POM) deposition to the sediment and its subsequent decomposition ...

Paired sediment contaminant and benthic infaunal data from prior studies following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were analyzed using logistic regression models (LRMs) to derive sediment quality benchmarks for assessing risks of oil‐related impacts to the deep‐sea benthos. Sediment total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ...

Contact Tim.Battista@noaa.gov for digital PDF copy. The purpose of this Atlas is to provide detailed maps depicting the GIS benthic habitat data produced, and outline the benthic habitat classification scheme and protocols used to map American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Thirty-four distinct benthic habitat ...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service (NOS) initiated a coral reef research program in 1999 to map, assess, inventory, and monitor U.S. coral reef ecosystems (Monaco et al. 2001). These activities were implemented in response to requirements outlined in the Mapping Implementation Plan developed by the ...

This report describes the development and assessment of shallow-water (0<35 m) benthic habitat maps for Northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) in partnership with the Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA), was to provide ...

This report documents the entire process of benthic habitat mapping in St. John. Chapter 1 provides a description of the benthic habitat classification scheme used to categorize the different habitats existing in the nearshore environment. Chapter 2 describes the steps required to create a benthic habitat map from visual interpretation ...

We used structured expert judgment and economic analysis to quantify annual impacts on ecosystem services in the Great Lakes, North America of nonindigenous aquatic species introduced by ocean-going ships. For the US waters, median damages aggregated across multiple ecosystem services were Open image in new window 138 million per year, ...

Coastal shoreline hardening is intensifying due to human population growth and sea level rise. Prior studies have emphasized shoreline-hardening effects on faunal abundance and diversity; few have examined effects on faunal biomass and size structure or described effects specific to different functional groups. We evaluated the biomass and size structure ...

Effective management of rare species, including endangered native species and recently introduced nonindigenous species, requires the detection of populations at low density. For endangered species, detecting the localized distribution makes it possible to identify and protect critical habitat to enhance survival or reproductive success. Similarly, early detection of an incipient ...

The Shellfish Information Management System (SIMS) is a web-based application designed in partnership with the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC) to integrate information important to coastal managers responsible for ensuring the safe harvest of mulluscan shellfish. While the primary purpose of SIMS is to map and analyze classified waters, both ...