Photosynthetically active and ultraviolet radiation at SEAKEYS station Molasses Reef (MLRF) in the Florida Keys, 2011 (NODC Accession 0098080)

The Florida Institute of Oceanography's (FIO) SEAKEYS (Sustained Ecological Research Related to Management of the Florida Keys Seascape) program began in 1989 and has continued until the present. This program, now being supported through NOAA's South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, Prediction and Modeling Program (SFERPM), implements a framework for long-term monitoring and research along the 220 mile Florida coral reef tract and in Florida Bay at a geographical scale encompassing the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS).

The network consists of six instrument-enhanced Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) stations, cooperatively managed with NOAA's National Data Buoy Center, plus a proposed new one in northwest Florida Bay. These stations measure the usual C-MAN meteorological parameters, such as wind speed, gusts and barometric pressure, but are enhanced with oceanographic instruments measuring salinity, sea temperature, fluorometry and turbidity. The impetus for such a framework was the perceived marked regional decline in coral reefs and the critical need to provide data and options for resource management. These data and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata are in spreadsheet format.