Assessment of heat stress exposure in the wider Caribbean coral reefs through the regional delineation of degree heating week data from 1985-01-01 to 2017-12-31 (NCEI Accession 0205786)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 26, 2026 | Last Modified: 2019-11-15T00:00:00.000+00:00

This data package presents a three-decade (1985-2017) assessment of heat stress exposure in the wider Caribbean coral reefs at the ecoregional and local scales. The main heat stress indicator used was the Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) calculated from daily Sea Surface Temperature "CoralTemp" data from CRW-NOAA available from 1985 to the present and from the maximum monthly mean (MMM) version 3.1 at 5 km of the CRW-NOAA program. Different metrics were calculated based on daily DHW and are available in this dataset: a) the maximum value of DHW per pixel for the entire time series b) the frequency of the annual maximum values of DHW ≥ 4 °C- weeks (a predictor of coral "bleaching risk") per pixel c) the frequency of the annual maximum values of DHW ≥ 8 °C- weeks (a predictor of bleach-induced mortality or "mortality risk") per pixel d) the year in which the maximum of DHW occurred e) the trend of the annual maximum values of DHW per pixel. Based on the spatiotemporal annual maximum DHW, a new regionalization of heat stress was performed by cluster analysis with the K-means algorithm through the unsupervised classification, this new regionalization delimits the Caribbean in 8 Heat Stress Regions (HSR). We summarized spatiotemporal daily data to describe the temporal patterns at an ecoregional scale by calculating the descriptive statistics of the regional DHW on a given day. This dataset represents a new baseline and regionalization of heat stress in the wider Caribbean coral reefs that will enhance conservation and planning efforts underway.

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description	This data package presents a three-decade (1985-2017) assessment of heat stress exposure in the wider Caribbean coral reefs at the ecoregional and local scales. The main heat stress indicator used was the Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) calculated from daily Sea Surface Temperature "CoralTemp" data from CRW-NOAA available from 1985 to the present and from the maximum monthly mean (MMM) version 3.1 at 5 km of the CRW-NOAA program. Different metrics were calculated based on daily DHW and are available in this dataset: a) the maximum value of DHW per pixel for the entire time series b) the frequency of the annual maximum values of DHW ≥ 4 °C- weeks (a predictor of coral "bleaching risk") per pixel c) the frequency of the annual maximum values of DHW ≥ 8 °C- weeks (a predictor of bleach-induced mortality or "mortality risk") per pixel d) the year in which the maximum of DHW occurred e) the trend of the annual maximum values of DHW per pixel. Based on the spatiotemporal annual maximum DHW, a new regionalization of heat stress was performed by cluster analysis with the K-means algorithm through the unsupervised classification, this new regionalization delimits the Caribbean in 8 Heat Stress Regions (HSR). We summarized spatiotemporal daily data to describe the temporal patterns at an ecoregional scale by calculating the descriptive statistics of the regional DHW on a given day. This dataset represents a new baseline and regionalization of heat stress in the wider Caribbean coral reefs that will enhance conservation and planning efforts underway.
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identifier	gov.noaa.nodc:0205786
issued	2019-10-24T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword	[ "0205786", "SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE", "laboratory analysis", "model output", "physical", "satellite data", "Merida Unit of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies", "Merida Unit of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies", "Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)", "CORAL REEF STUDIES", "Coral Reef Watch (CRW)", "Caribbean Sea", "North Atlantic Ocean", "North Pacific Ocean", "oceanography", "Biodiversided y funcionalidad de los arrecifes coralinos del Caribe Mexicano", "Healthy Reefs for Healthy People (Smithsonian Institution and Mesoamerican Reef)", "Red Oceano, Clima y Cambio Global", "Vulnerabilidad ecologica del Sistema Arrecifal Mesoamericano", "Geographic Information > Climate", "Geographic Information > Sea Surface Temperature", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Coral Diseases > Bleaching > Degree Heating Week (DHW)", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Coral Diseases > Bleaching > Sea Surface Temperature (SST)", "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE", "Annual maximum DHW valye from 1985 to 2017", "Frequency of annual maximum DH values > = 4 degree Celsius weeks", "Frequency of annual maximum DH values > = 8 degree Celsius weeks", "Heat-stress regions", "Maximum DHW value per pixel from 1987 to 2017", "Median of the regional DHW values on a given day", "Reef location mask", "Trend of annual maximum DHW", "Year in which the maximum DHW occurred", "Mixed spatial information", "Satellite sensor", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Bahamas > Bahamas (24N078W0000)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Cuba > Cuba (22N079W0000)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Dominican Republic > Dominican Republic (19N070W0000)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Haiti > Haiti (19N072W0000)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Mexico > Mexico (20N100W0000)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Florida > Florida Reef Tract (26N080W0007)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Puerto Rico > Puerto Rico (18N066W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Cuba > Cuba (22N079W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Dominican Republic > Dominican Republic (19N070W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Greater Antilles > Haiti (19N072W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Caribbean Sea /North Atlantic Ocean > Puerto Rico > Puerto Rico (18N066W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > Gulf of Mexico > Mexico > Mexico (20N100W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Bahamas > Bahamas (24N078W0000)", "OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Florida Reef Tract (26N080W0007)", "OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN", "OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > CARIBBEAN SEA", "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN", "2JHFMG" ]
landingPage	https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
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license	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified	2019-11-15T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher	{ "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information", "@type": "org:Organization" }
references	[ "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47307-0", "https://www.mda.cinvestav.mx/Investigaci%C3%B3n/DepartamentodeRecursosdelMar/Laboratorios/Ecolog%C3%ADadeecosistemasdearrecifesycoralinos.aspx", "http://www.healthyreefs.org/cms/", "https://wls.si.edu/", "https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/index.php", "https://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/1", "https://doi.org/10.1641/b570707", "https://doi.org/10.3390/rs61111579", "https://doi.org/10.1029/98jd00995" ]
rights	otherRestrictions
spatial	-59.2,8.35,-97.0,32.7
temporal	1985-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/2017-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
title	Assessment of heat stress exposure in the wider Caribbean coral reefs through the regional delineation of degree heating week data from 1985-01-01 to 2017-12-31 (NCEI Accession 0205786)