2024 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Long-Term Monitoring of the Coral Reef Caps of East Flower Garden Bank and West Flower Garden Bank (NCEI Accession 0308032)
This dataset contains raw and processed data from an annual long-term monitoring program documenting fish and benthic community observations, along with water quality measurements, at East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB). These two sites are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), located in the northwestern Gulf of America. Monitoring began in 1989 and is funded by FGBNMS and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, with support from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. EFGB and WFGB are coral reef-capped features that form part of a discontinuous arc of reef environments along the outer continental shelf. They rise from salt dome formations located approximately 190 km south of the Texas-Louisiana border and include habitats ranging from 16 to 166 meters in depth. The shallow bank caps lie within the photic zone and support diverse coral, algal, invertebrate, and fish communities, many of which are shared with Caribbean reef systems. Benthic community data are derived from benthic photo analysis using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe). Fish surveys are conducted annually using a modified Bohnsack and Bannerot stationary point count method, and results are recorded in Excel spreadsheets. Water quality parameters (e.g., temperature, salinity, turbidity, nutrients) are obtained from moored conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) instruments, water samples, and quarterly profiling of the water column. Temperature and salinity records are reduced to daily averages for long-term trend analysis.
Resources
8 resources available
-
NCEI Dataset Landing Page
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
Descriptive Information
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
HTTPS
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
FTP
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/conservation/longterm-monitoring-east-west-fgb.html
FILE -
GCMD Keyword Forum Page
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
NCEI Contact Information
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE -
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) website
PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | non-public |
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.info@noaa.gov"
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|
| describedByType | application/octet-steam |
| description | This dataset contains raw and processed data from an annual long-term monitoring program documenting fish and benthic community observations, along with water quality measurements, at East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB). These two sites are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), located in the northwestern Gulf of America. Monitoring began in 1989 and is funded by FGBNMS and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, with support from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. EFGB and WFGB are coral reef-capped features that form part of a discontinuous arc of reef environments along the outer continental shelf. They rise from salt dome formations located approximately 190 km south of the Texas-Louisiana border and include habitats ranging from 16 to 166 meters in depth. The shallow bank caps lie within the photic zone and support diverse coral, algal, invertebrate, and fish communities, many of which are shared with Caribbean reef systems. Benthic community data are derived from benthic photo analysis using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe). Fish surveys are conducted annually using a modified Bohnsack and Bannerot stationary point count method, and results are recorded in Excel spreadsheets. Water quality parameters (e.g., temperature, salinity, turbidity, nutrients) are obtained from moored conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) instruments, water samples, and quarterly profiling of the water column. Temperature and salinity records are reduced to daily averages for long-term trend analysis. |
| distribution |
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|
| identifier | gov.noaa.nodc:0308032 |
| issued | 2025-09-17T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| keyword |
[
"0308032",
"BENTHIC SPECIES",
"BENTHIC SPECIES - TAXA COUNTS",
"CORAL",
"CORAL - BLEACHING",
"CORAL - CENSUS",
"CORAL - SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
"DEPTH - OBSERVATION",
"DISSOLVED OXYGEN",
"Fish",
"FISH - CORAL REEF",
"FISH CENSUS",
"FISH SPECIES",
"images",
"INVERTEBRATE SPECIES",
"LATITUDE",
"LONGITUDE",
"pH",
"PHOTOQUADRAT IMAGES",
"SALINITY",
"SPECIES - PERCENT OCCURRENCE",
"species abundance",
"SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
"SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - COUNT",
"SPONGE SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
"turbidity",
"WATER TEMPERATURE",
"buoy - moored buoy",
"camera",
"CTD",
"CTD - moored CTD",
"photograph",
"swimmer/diver",
"thermistor",
"in situ",
"laboratory analyses",
"Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary",
"Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary",
"LONG TERM MONITORING EAST-WEST FLOWER GARDEN BANKS",
"Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary",
"Gulf of America",
"Gulf of Mexico",
"oceanography",
"DOC/NOAA/NOS/NMS > National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
"EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES",
"EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > SPONGES",
"EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > FISH",
"EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > CORAL REEFS > CORAL BLEACHING",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > PH",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN OPTICS > TURBIDITY",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE",
"EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY",
"EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS > CORAL REEFS",
"EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS > VISIBLE IMAGERY",
"BENTHIC SPECIES (RANDOM TRANSECT)",
"BENTHIC SPECIES (REPETITIVE PHOTOSTATIONS)",
"BENTHIC SPECIES - TAXA COUNTS (URCHIN AND LOBSTER REEF CREST)",
"FISH CENSUS (REEF CREST)",
"WATER QUALITY (MOORED)",
"WATER QUALITY (PROFILES)",
"WATER QUALITY (SAMPLES)",
"WATER QUALITY (SOFAR OCEAN SPOTTER BUOY)",
"CAMERA > CAMERA",
"CTD > Conductivity, Temperature, Depth",
"THERMISTORS > THERMISTORS",
"Sofar buoy",
"M/V Fling",
"R/V Manta",
"OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF AMERICA",
"OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF MEXICO",
"Northwest Gulf of Mexico",
"YLYHXY"
]
|
| landingPage | https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact |
| language |
[]
|
| license | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
| modified | 2025-10-30T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| publisher |
{
"name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
"@type": "org:Organization"
}
|
| references |
[
"https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/conservation/longterm-monitoring-east-west-fgb.html"
]
|
| rights | otherRestrictions |
| spatial | -93.6,27.87,-94.3,27.91 |
| temporal | 2024-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/2024-12-31T00:00:00+00:00 |
| title | 2024 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Long-Term Monitoring of the Coral Reef Caps of East Flower Garden Bank and West Flower Garden Bank (NCEI Accession 0308032) |
