Monitoring Coral Demography

Data is collected on the size, species, and health of young and adult corals, using in-water diver surveys and advanced 3D imagery analysis. Surveys are conducted in hard-bottom habitat in water <30 m, following a stratified-random sampling site design (StRS). Random sites are generated across islands using reef zone, depth zone, pre-determined sectors, and locations of known hard-bottom habitat (typically from backscatter data), using the R project ncrmp_common_map. Site-level data should be used with caution as the data is intended to be combined and adjusted with multiple sites within a region to provide an accurate picture of coral populations across the whole area. Access more details and data visualization on the NCRMP Data Viz Tool.
A diver measures a coral along the transect during the 2023 NCRMP field work in American Samoa. The team counted over 25,000 coral colonies ranging in size from less than an inch to over 24 feet! Big thank you to the crew of the NOAA Ship Rainier for the vital support provided and to the American Sāmoan community for sharing their beautiful islands and culture with us. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Joao Garriques

How to download and use our data

Data is archived with NCEI and described on InPort Metadata Catalog for sites across the U.S. Pacific since 2014. Raw imagery is archived separately and is accessible under 'Related Items' (see Access Raw Data below).

sops

SOPs

Standard operating Procedures detailing methods for processing imagery to derive coral demographic data from 3D models.

Download

data sheets

Data Sheets

Data is collected during photogrammetry imagery collection at random sites, recorded at the bottom of fish survey data sheets Datasheet _2024_w_SfM.docx. In water diver survey data sheets can also be provided by request.

Download

access raw data

Access Raw Data

Raw data is archived with NCEI. Links for each region's dataset are listed in the Distribution Information section of the InPort metadata record: National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Coral demographic data.

R code

R Code for Processing

Contact Thomas Oliver thomas.oliver@noaa.gov for processing scripts.