Coral Bleaching Indices for Heron Island, Australia from NOAA Coral Reef Watch Twice-Weekly Near-Real-Time Satellite Tropical Ocean Data

Metadata also available as - [Outline]

Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Coral Bleaching Indices for Heron Island, Australia from NOAA Coral Reef Watch Twice-Weekly Near-Real-Time Satellite Tropical Ocean Data
Abstract:
The Tropical Ocean Coral Bleaching Indices web page provides coral bleaching related thermal stress information extracted from Coral Reef Watch's twice-weekly near-real-time 50-km satellite nighttime AVHRR sea surface temperature (SST) and derived coral bleaching HotSpots and Degree Heating Weeks (DHWs) datasets for 24 selected reef sites. The satellite data are extracted from the 50 km satellite pixels nearest to the 24 selected reef sites. The data at these satellite pixels are assumed to best represent the conditions at the corresponding reef sites. On the page, the following information is provided for Heron Island, Australia, one of the 24 sites: reef site name, current thermal stress level, current DHW value, the historical maximum DHW value at the location since 1985 and the year of the occurrence, current AVHRR nighttime SST value, and the Maximum Monthly Mean sea surface temperature climatology value. All the reef names are linked to corresponding maps showing the latitude-longitudes and locations of the pixels and their associated reef sites. Links to other useful information are also provided on the map pages. Five thermal stress levels are defined by Coral Reef Watch to scale the intensity of thermal stress, from no-stress, bleaching watch, bleaching warning, to bleaching alert level 1 and 2. These levels are defined in terms of the HotSpot and DHW values (see <http://coralreefwatch-satops.noaa.gov/SBA.html>). When thermal stress is present at a reef site, i.e., current SST exceeds the Maximum Monthly Mean SST Climatology at the site, a triangular warning icon is added to that reef site and the status text is displayed in red color. A Bleaching Warning is issued when the current SST reaches 1 degree Celsius over the maximum monthly mean SST climatology. At this point, DHWs begin accumulating and a larger triangular icon is displayed. An accumulation of 4 DHWs triggers a Bleaching Alert Level 1 and the status is displayed in bold red text. An accumulation of 8 DHWs triggers a Bleaching Alert Level 2. See <http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov> for more information. Satellite data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) are used to generate AVHRR-SST. The most recent AVHRR data obtained from the POES that is presently in operational mode are processed to generate the near-real-time SST data used to create the coral bleaching HotSpots and DHWs. The SST data, coral bleaching HotSpots, DHWs and DHW chart are produced twice-weekly on every Tuesday (using AVHRR data from the previous Saturday through Monday) and on every Saturday (using AVHRR data from the previous Tuesday through Friday).
Supplemental_Information:
The graphic displays of the SST, SST Anomaly, Coral Bleaching HotSpots, Degree Heating Weeks, and SST time series are available online at the following URLs. <http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/current/key_sst_50km_field.html> <http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/hero0sst.htm> <http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/hero0hot.htm> <http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/hero0dhw.htm> <http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/current/sst_series_24reefs.html>
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 20000101, Coral Bleaching Indices for Heron Island, Australia from NOAA Coral Reef Watch Twice-Weekly Near-Real-Time Satellite Tropical Ocean Data: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Suitland, Maryland, USA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: 152.0
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: 152.0
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: -23.5
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: -23.5

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 01-Jan-2000
    Ending_Date: present
    Currentness_Reference: publication date

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      Indirect_Spatial_Reference: location name

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    NOAA Coral Reef Watch
    c/o C. Mark Eakin, Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch
    NOAA E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5308, 1335 East West Hwy
    Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3226
    USA

    301-713-2857 x 109 (voice)
    301-713-3136 (FAX)
    coralreefwatch@noaa.gov, mark.eakin@noaa.gov

Why was the data set created?

NOAA's Coral Reef Watch (CRW) initiative seeks to fully utilize space-based sea surface temperature (SST) observations combined with in-situ data to continually monitor for early indications of thermally- induced coral reef bleaching worldwide. As part of CRW, the NOAA/NESDIS Coral Reef Monitoring Program developed a suite of products including two-dimensional global SST, SST Anomaly, coral bleaching HotSpots as well as coral bleaching Degree Heating Weeks as indices of coral reef bleaching related thermal stress. To provide more focused services to local reef communities and scientists, the NESDIS Coral Reef Monitoring Program developed this twice-weekly satellite near real-time "Tropical Ocean Coral Bleaching Indices" Web page as well as SST time series to deliver collective thermal stress information for selected reef sites. Through this Indices web page, NOAA/NESDIS provides actual SST, HotSpot, and DHW numerical data for coral bleaching monitoring and assessment.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    NOAA CRW Near-Real-Time 50 km Satellite Nighttime AVHRR SSTs (Heron Island, Australia) (source 1 of 2)
    NOAA Coral Reef Watch, NOAA/NESDIS, 20000101, NOAA Coral Reef Watch Twice-weekly Near-Real-Time 50 km Satellite Nighttime Sea Surface Temperatures (Heron Island, Australia): NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Suitland, Maryland, USA.

    Type_of_Source_Media: digital data file
    Source_Contribution: Some information in the product is extracted from this source.

    NOAA CRW Near-Real-Time 50 km Satellite Coral Bleaching Degree Heating Weeks (Heron Island, Australia) (source 2 of 2)
    NOAA Coral Reef Watch, NOAA/NESDIS, 20000101, NOAA Coral Reef Watch Twice-Weekly Near-Real-Time 50 km Satellite Coral Bleaching Degree Heating Weeks (Heron Island, Australia): NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Suitland, Maryland, USA.

    Type_of_Source_Media: digital data file
    Source_Contribution: Some information in the product is extracted from this source.

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 01-Jan-2000 (process 1 of 1)
    The Indices Web page provides thermal stress information extracted from NOAA twice-weekly near-real-time 50 km satellite nighttime sea surface temperatures and derived HotSpots and Degree Heating Weeks datasets for the geographic locations of the satellite observations nearest the selected reef sites. The following references may be helpful to describe the data processing for the corresponding products. 1) Strong, A. E., C. S. Barrientos, C. Duda, and J. Sapper, 1997: Improved Satellite Technique for Monitoring Coral Reef Bleaching. Proc 8th International Coral Reef Symposium 2:1495-1498. Available also online at URL <http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/icrs_dud.html> 2) Liu, G., W. Skirving, and A.E. Strong. 2003. Remote sensing of sea surface temperatures during 2002 Barrier Reef coral bleaching. EOS, 84(15), 137-144. 3) Skirving, W.J., A.E. Strong, G. Liu, C. Liu, F. Arzayus, J. Sapper and E. Bayler, Extreme events and perturbations of coastal ecosystems: Sea surface temperature change and coral bleaching. Chapter 2 in Remote Sensing of Aquatic Coastal Ecosystem Processes, L.L. Richardson and E.F. LeDrew (Co-Eds), Kluwer publishers, January, 2006 4) The information for the AVHRR-derived sea surface temperture is described in the following user's guide. Goodrum G., K. B. Kidwell, and W. Winston, 2000, NOAA KLM USER'S GUIDE. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Climatic Data Center, Climate Services Division, Satellite Services Branch, FOB3, Room G227, E/CC33, 5200 Auth Road, Suitland, MD 20746-4304, USA. This manual is available on line at <http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/klm/cover.htm>. To request additional information contact: Telephone: (828) 271-4850, Telefax: (828) 271-4876, Email: satorder@ncdc.noaa.gov.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    NOAA_Coral_Reef_Watch
    c/o C. Mark Eakin, Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch
    NOAA E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5308, 1335 East West Hwy
    Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3226
    USA

    301-713-2857 x 109 (voice)
    301-713-3136 (FAX)
    coralreefwatch@noaa.gov, mark.eakin@noaa.gov

    Data sources used in this process:
    • NOAA Near-Real-Time Satellite Nighttime AVHRR SSTs (Heron Island, Australia)
    • NOAA Near-Real-Time Satellite Coral Bleaching HotSpots (Heron Island, Australia)
    • NOAA Near-Real-Time Satellite Coral Bleaching Degree Heating Weeks (Heron Island, Australia)

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) AVHRR-SST values are accurate to within 0.5 degrees C and adjusted by in-situ information (buoys) to best-approximate SST at a depth of 1 meter. However, to provide a complete global coverage, estimation of SSTs at all pixels that are cloud covered may occasionally reduce the accuracy of SST at these pixels. The accuracy of the DHW depends on both SST and the SST climatology used for deriving DHW. No estimation on the accuracy of DHW has been done yet.

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

    Users are referred to the following guide on AVHRR-derived sea surface temperature. Goodrum G., K. B. Kidwell, and W. Winston, 2000, NOAA KLM USER'S GUIDE. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Climatic Data Center, Climate Services Division, Satellite Services Branch, FOB3, Room G227, E/CC33, 5200 Auth Road, Suitland, MD 20746-4304, USA. This manual is available on line at <http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/klm/cover.htm>. To request additional information contact: Telephone: (828) 271-4850, Telefax: (828) 271-4876, Email: satorder@ncdc.noaa.gov.

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

    none

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    Selected references: 1) The information for the AVHRR-derived sea surface temperature is described in the following guide. Goodrum G., K. B. Kidwell, and W. Winston, 2000, NOAA KLM USER'S GUIDE. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Climatic Data Center, Climate Services Division, Satellite Services Branch, FOB3, Room G227, E/CC33, 5200 Auth Road, Suitland, MD 20746-4304, USA. This manual is available on line at <http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/klm/cover.htm>. To request additional information contact: Telephone: (828) 271-4850, Telefax: (828) 271-4876, Email: satorder@ncdc.noaa.gov. 2) Strong, A. E., C. S. Barrientos, C. Duda, and J. Sapper, 1997: Improved Satellite Technique for Monitoring Coral Reef Bleaching. Proc 8th International Coral Reef Symposium 2:1495-1498. Available also online at URL <http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/icrs_dud.html>. 3) Liu, G., W. Skirving, and A.E. Strong. 2003. Remote sensing of sea surface temperatures during 2002 Barrier Reef coral bleaching. EOS, 84(15), 137-144. 4) Skirving, W.J., A.E. Strong, G. Liu, C. Liu, F. Arzayus, J. Sapper and E. Bayler, Extreme events and perturbations of coastal ecosystems: Sea surface temperature change and coral bleaching. Chapter 2 in Remote Sensing of Aquatic Coastal Ecosystem Processes, L.L. Richardson and E.F. LeDrew (Co-Eds), Kluwer publishers, January, 2006.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    none

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none
Use_Constraints:
Not intended for legal use. Remotely Sensed data may contain inaccuracies due to clouded or mixed pixels.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    NOAA Coral Reef Watch
    c/o C. Mark Eakin, Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch
    NOAA E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5308, 1335 East West Hwy
    Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3226
    USA

    301-713-2857 x 109 (voice)
    301-713-3136 (FAX)
    coralreefwatch@noaa.gov, mark.eakin@noaa.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 12-Aug-2008
Metadata author:
NOAA Coral Reef Watch
c/o C. Mark Eakin, Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch
NOAA E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5308, 1335 East West Hwy
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3226
USA

301-713-2857 x 109 (voice)
301-713-3136 (FAX)
coralreefwatch@noaa.gov, mark.eakin@noaa.gov

Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

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