National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Images Collected from Climate Stations across the Pacific Remote Island Areas from 2015-01-26 to 2015-04-27 (NCEI Accession 0159155)

Photoquadrat benthic images were collected at NCRMP climate stations and permanent sites identified by the Ocean and Climate Change team across the Pacific Remote Island Areas since 2014 according to protocols established by the Coral Reef Ecocsystem Program (CREP) and the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The imagery allows for a quantitative analysis using image analysis software to derive an estimate of benthic percent cover.
Climate stations are 3-4 sites per island that were selected in a stratified random fashion to be roughly equally spaced around the island, along the 15 m contour, on hard bottom, and at least 1 km away from a river mouth or embayment. Once selected we assess multiple features of the coral reef environment including in-situ temperature (STR), seawater carbonate, net carbonate accretion (CAU), bioerosion (BMU), and cryptobiota diversity (ARMS).