National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Water chemistry of the coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean

This collection contains water sample data that are collected and analyzed to assess spatial and temporal variation in the seawater carbonate systems of coral reef ecosystems in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of NOAA's ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) and with support from NOAA's Ocean Acidification Program (OAP).

The data described here are from water samples collected at existing, long-term monitoring sites during NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) led NCRMP missions. Two water samples are typically collected from each site—one at the reef and one at the surface directly above the reef—and a third sample may also be collected approximately 1 km offshore from the site. The samples are processed by CREP and sent to NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) to be analyzed for total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). From these constituents, alongside temperature, salinity, and depth data, other constituents of the seawater carbonate system can be calculated. These monitoring data provide a baseline for tracking reef carbonate system changes due to globally increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.