Conservation planning accounting for climate warming disturbance

Dataset associated with the paper "Conservation Planning for Coral Reefs Accounting for Climate Warming Disturbances”. Data was collected using satellite imagery and includes spatially- and temporally-varying sea-surface temperature (SST) data, integrating both observed (1985–2009) and projected (2010–2099) time-series. For historical analysis, data was acquired on sea-surface temperature (SST) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pathfinder Project (http://pathfinder.nodc.noaa.gov). For analysis of future projections, data was used from the global monthly SST output (2010–2099) by the Parallel Climate Model PCM1, which is a General Circulation Model (GCM) developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment (IPCC AR4). All Brazilian reefs were used in the study. Data was collected to derive indices of acute (time under reduced ecosystem function following short-term events) and chronic thermal stress (rate of warming), which were combined to delineate thermal-stress regimes. I then evaluated if/how these regimes are contained within Brazilian Marine Protected Areas and identified priority areas where additional protection would reinforce resilience.