Underwater temperature on off-shore coral reefs of the Florida Keys, U.S.A.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coral Reef Ecosystems Studies project provides science that helps resource managers tasked with the stewardship of coral reef resources. Coral reef organisms are very sensitive to high and low water-temperature extremes. Therefore, it is critical to precisely know water temperatures experienced by corals and associated plants and animals that live in the dynamic, nearshore environment, to document thresholds in temperature tolerance. This data release provides underwater temperature data recorded every fifteen minutes since 2009 at ten off-shore coral reefs in the Florida Keys. From southwest to northeast, these sites are in Dry Tortugas National Park: Garden Key, Pulaski Shoal West, Pulaski Shoal Light; in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Sombrero Reef, Crocker Reef, Molasses Reef; and in Biscayne National Park: Ball Buoy North, Shadow Reef, Brewster Reef, and Fowey Rocks. Measurements were made at Sombrero Reef from July 2009 to August 2022, at Crocker Reef from June 2013 to August 2022, and at Molasses Reef from April 2009 to April 2013. Data collection continues at three sites in the Dry Tortugas National Park (Pulaski West, initiated December 2016, Garden Key, initiated May 2022, and Pulaski Light, initiated June 2009) and four sites in Biscayne National Park (Fowey Rocks, initiated August 2009; and Ball Buoy North, Shadow Reef, and Brewster Reef initiated in May 2023). Temperatures were recorded with Onset® HOBO® Water Temp Pro V2 (U22-001) data loggers in duplicate at each site. Loggers were attached to concrete blocks fixed to the reef with stainless-steel rods and epoxy at depths of 7 to 16 feet of seawater. Portions of the dataset included here were interpreted in conjunction with coral and/or algal calcification rates in publications including Kuffner and others (2020), and Lenz and others (2021). See the cross-reference section of the metadata for a complete list of publications.

Kuffner, I.B., Stathakopoulos, A., Toth, L.T., and Bartlett, L.A., 2020, Reestablishing a stepping-stone population of the threatened elkhorn coral Acropora palmata to aid regional recovery: Endangered Species Research, v. 43, p. 461-473, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01083.

Lenz, E.A., Bartlett, L.A., Stathakopoulos, A., and Kuffner, I.B., 2021, Physiological differences in bleaching response of the coral Porites astreoides along the Florida Keys reef tract during high-temperature stress: Frontiers in Marine Science, v. 8, art. 615795, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.615795.

Note: This data release was versioned on November 01, 2024. Please see the Suggested Citation section for details.