Projects

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Products & Data

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General Pages

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Internships

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Projects

A Marine Biogeographic Assessment of the Northwest...

We conducted a biogeographic assessment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the second largest marine protected area in the world. The effort was the most comprehensive view of the area’s oceanography, ...

Acoustic Tracking of Fish Movements to Support Hab...

We are monitoring the movement and residence time of fish in several coastal ecosystems. Our objectives are to document habitat preferences of fish, the timing and scales of their mobility, and ...

An Assessment of Chemical Contaminants in Sediment...

We studied the coastal waters of southwest Puerto Rico to find out what kind and how much pollution (chemical contaminants) are in sediments and corals (Porites astreoides) and how that ...

An Ecological Characterization of the Marine Resou...

We studied the coastal waters of Vieques, Puerto Rico, looking at fish and bottom-dwelling animals, contaminants in sediments and corals, and nutrient levels in surface waters. We also mapped the ...

Assessing Coral Bleaching in Four U.S. Caribbean M...

In 2005, high sea temperatures caused coral bleaching in the Caribbean. The goals of this this project were to characterize the spatial extent of coral bleaching and recovery and to ...

Assessment of Dredged Material Created Habitat in ...

Summary: We characterized the habitat formed by dredge material disposed in sites designated by the EPA offshore of Fernandina Beach, FL using SCUBA assessments, multibeam mapping, and hydroacoustic sampling of ...

Benthic Habitat Mapping in Puerto Rico and the U.S...

We conducted benthic habitat mapping of shallow-water coral reef areas off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to inventory the coral reefs and related bottom types. Before this project, ...

Benthic Habitat Mapping of Florida Coral Reef Ecos...

NOAA mapped the shallow-water (less than 25 meters deep) coral reef ecosystems of the Florida Keys to support research, conservation, and management activities of state and federal agencies, including the ...

Benthic Habitat Mapping of Main Hawaiian Islands

NCCOS developed benthic habitat maps for shallow (<30 m) areas around the Main Hawaiian Islands to help local managers and researchers develop reef fish management strategies, optimize biological monitoring sampling ...

News

Tracking Fish Movements to Understand Habitat Conn...

National marine sanctuaries protect America's most iconic natural and cultural marine resources. To assess the effectiveness of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) at protecting habitat for key ...

Investigating the Long-term Effects of Chronic Tur...

Fragments of the Caribbean coral Orbicella faveolata being prepared for daily imaging. A photo of each coral is taken under a fluorescent microscope every day so that scientists can capture ...

Report Details Agency Priorities for Mapping Coral...

NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program uses seafloor mapping data to support a variety of coral reef management decisions. To efficiently allocate limited mapping resources, the program needs to prioritize which ...

New Report Summarizes National Coral Reef Monitori...

Summary statistics for the 2020-2021 sampling completed in Florida. A report released in October 2022 describes the status and trends of Florida's coral reef ecosystem using data from the National ...

New Report Presents Agency Priorities for Mapping ...

NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program uses benthic mapping data to support a variety of management decisions about coral reef ecosystems. To help the program efficiently allocate limited mapping resources, NCCOS ...

Researchers Transfer Threatened Coral Larvae from ...

NCCOS scientists have successfully transferred and settled fertilized elkhorn and mountainous star coral larvae — two species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — from reefs in the ...

Researchers Identify Sources of Nitrogen in Macroa...

Scientific diver Randall Kosaki (NOAA, PMNM) collects green blades of algae at Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll) at a depth of 295 feet. Credit: Stephen Matadobra, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument ...

Scientific Cruises Set Sail to Help Restore Open O...

NCCOS and partners are embarking on a series of science cruises to support four long-term restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico. This effort will advance our ability to understand, ...

Artificial Reef Design and Siting in US Missing Ec...

NCCOS scientists and their partners have outlined a way to make ecological criteria part of the artificial reef planning process in the United States. Planning processes for artificial reefs differ ...

Study Finds Community Structure of Mesophotic Cora...

NCCOS-supported researchers documented that mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) at depths of 50 and 70 m in southwest Puerto Rico experienced significant interannual changes in community composition, demonstrating that caution should ...

Products

Maps, Tools & Applications

NOAA mapped the shallow-water (less than 25 meters deep) coral reef ecosystems of the Florida Keys to support research, conservation, and management activities of state and federal agencies, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.
Project Page

In the Data Collection you will find data, maps, imagery and selected publications from the 2003 and 2007 phases of the Main Hawaiian Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping project.
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A benthic habitat map of coral reef ecosystems around Majuro, an atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands was developed. The maps were created from satellite images and depict coral reefs, seagrass, sand, reef flats, and other ecosystem features in the shallow waters of the atoll. Benthic maps are foundational tools for monitoring, conservation, development planning, stock assessments and other management actions.
Project Page

We developed benthic habitat maps for shallow (<30 meters) areas around the main islands of the Republic of Palau to help local managers and researchers develop reef fish management strategies, optimize biological monitoring sampling design, and develop place-based action strategies to address key issues and remedy specific threats to coral reefs. Project PageView Product

The Coral Disease and Health Consortium is a network of field and laboratory scientists, coral reef managers, and agency representatives devoted to understanding coral health and disease. It is extensive, highly collaborative, and completely voluntary with over 150 partners.
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An R package specifically designed to compute summary statistics from the site to the regional level using benthic coral reef data collected from the Atlantic regions of NOAA's National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) is available on GitHub. This tool is available for public use and also serves as a data repository.
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Access deep sea coral and sponge data: Digital Map allows for search, discovery, and download of the National Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges Database. All points are categorized and colored by common vernacular categories. Users can search by taxon, region, time, and depth. Data downloads can be initiated using the search parameters on the map and the on-screen geographic extent.

Contributing PartnersNOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP) and its partners.

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Data & Publications

2000 years of sustainable use of watersheds and coral reefs in Pacific Islands: A review for Palau

In Palau and everywhere in the world, coastal coral reefs are threatened by sedimentation resulting from land clearing in the watersheds. Palau's largest island of Babeldaob is particularly susceptible to significant erosion due to its steep topography, high rainfall, and ...

2012 Data Summary for the First Island-wide Fish and Coral Assessment in Shallow (1-100') Hardbottom Habitats of St. Croix, USVI

A collaborative research effort between the NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s (CCMA) Biogeography Branch (BB) and the National Park Service South Florida and Caribbean Network (NPS-SFCN) has been inventorying and assessing ...

2016 Hohonu Moana: Exploring the Deep Waters off Hawai‘i

New Frontiers in Ocean Exploration: The E/V Nautilus, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, and R/V Falkor 2016 Field Season is the seventh consecutive supplement on ocean exploration to accompany Oceanography. These booklets provide details about the innovative technologies deployed to investigate ...

2018: a shift in focus in deep-sea explorations

In 2017, the Campaign to Address Pacific Monument Science, Technology and Ocean Needs (CAPSTONE), completed its successful three-year effort to explore deep-sea habitats across the central and western Pacific Ocean. In 2018, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will shift its geographic ...

A Benthic Terrain Classification Scheme for American Samoa

Coral reef ecosystems, the most varied on earth, continually face destruction from anthropogenic and natural threats. The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force seeks to characterize and map priority coral reef ecosystems in the U.S./Trust Territories by 2009. Building upon NOAA ...

A biogeographic assessment of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: A review of boundary expansion concepts for NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program

This biogeographic assessment represents the continuation of an ongoing partnership between the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS). The purpose of this collaboration is to provide sanctuary managers with basic information on ...

A comprehensive investigation of mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Hawaiian Archipelago

Although the existence of coral-reef habitats at depths to 165 m in tropical regions has been known for decades, the richness, diversity, and ecological importance of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) has only recently become widely acknowledged. During an interdisciplinary effort ...

A guide to monitoring reef fish in the National Park Service's South Florida/Caribbean Network

The goal of this guide is to provide the framework for park managers and researchers to create or enhance a reef fish monitoring program within areas monitored by the SFCN. The framework is expected to be applicable to other areas ...

A new encrusting deep-water coral reef alga, Peyssonnelia incomposita (Peyssonneliaceae, Rhodophyta), from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea

A new Peyssonnelia species is described from deep-water habitats in Puerto Rico as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Peyssonnelia incomposita is distinctive when living due its background orange coloration with highly contrasting bright yellow highlights. Internally the thallus is ...

A new species of Atergopedia (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Novocriniidae) from a Caribbean mesophotic reef

Coordinated research efforts in mesophotic coral reefs are only a decade old, but have already produced exciting findings in ecology, physiology, geomorphology, population genetics, biodiversity, and taxonomy. In this taxonomic contribution, we describe both sexes of a new copepod species ...

General Pages

Coastal and Marine Planning

Coastal and marine planning science analyzes and supports the allocation of the spatial and temporal distribution of human uses in coastal and marine areas to balance social-economic and ecological objectives ...

Coral Ecosystem

NCCOS research helps shed light on corals and their understudied communities, restoration science, the ecological role they play, and their potential to help replenish degraded reef populations. NCCOS coral research ...

Deep-Sea Corals

Deep-sea corals, like their warm-water cousins, are actually colonies of small animals that build a common skeleton, which grows into many shapes and colors. Unlike tropical reefs, they live from ...

Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems

Imagine a coral reef. Chances are you are thinking about those corals that live in the top 100 feet (30 m) of the ocean. In tropical and subtropical waters, light-dependent ...

NCCOS Monitoring and Assessments

Coastal and inland communities rely on NCCOS for an understanding of threats to their environmental resources. Our products and services help communities ensure the security of their water supplies, the ...

Shallow Water Corals

Coral reefs are living, three-dimensional, underwater structures that provide habitat to algae, fish, crustaceans, and other organisms. Reefs provide ecosystem services—or benefits to humans—including food and shoreline protection while supporting ...

NOAA Internship Opportunities

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NCCOS delivers ecosystem science solutions for stewardship of the nation’s ocean and coastal resources to sustain thriving coastal communities and economies.

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