Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

This dataset contains pH measurements collected at the height of El Niño on 12-15 November 2015 and after severe El Niño conditions had subsided on 16-24 May 2016 for the west and east sides of Jarvis Island at 7-10 m depth.

Short-term oceanographic instrument deployments were conducted at the same sites on 12-15 November 2015 and 16-23 May 2016. Instrument package deployments included a SAMI-pH sensor (Sunburst Sensors, 15 min sampling interval), SBE-37 Microcat (Sea-Bird Electronics, 20 sec sampling interval), and dissolved oxygen sensor (RBR, 1 min sampling interval) which were affixed to the reef at 7 m (east) and 10 m (west) depth.

Samples were collected during expeditions aboard:

• R/V Machias (12–15 November 2015)
• NOAA ship Oscar Elton Sette (17–23 May 2016)

Research activities and sample collection were conducted under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Reefs National Wildlife Refuge Complex Research and Monitoring Special Use Permits:

• 12521-10001 (effective date: 15 Jan 2010; expiration date: 30 May 2010)
• 12521-12001 (effective date: 7 Feb 2012; expiration date: 31 Dec 2012)
• 12521-12005 (effective date: 29 Aug 2012; expiration date: 30 June 2014)
• 12521-14001 (effective date: 1 Jan 2015; expiration date: 31 Dec 2015)
• 12513-15001 (effective date: 11 Nov 2015; expiration date: 31 Dec 2015)

and in compliance with Presidential Proclamation 8336.

All instrument data were processed in R (version 3.0.1).

BCO-DMO processing notes:

• Added ISO datetime column for interoperability purposes

NSF Award Abstract:
Ocean warming kills corals and efforts are underway to identify and protect coral reefs that may withstand the projected 21st century rise in tropical ocean temperatures. Coral reefs in the central equatorial Pacific (CEP) have been exposed to episodes of extreme warmth every 3-7 years for centuries, if not millennia, yet remain highly productive ecosystems. Initial data obtained by the investigator from stress signatures archived in the skeletons of long lived coral species, suggests that CEP reefs lose their symbiotic algae or bleach, sometimes severely, during warm episodes. The observation that CEP reefs bleach repetitively yet remain productive implies uncommon resilience to ocean warming. The investigator will use laboratory experiments and field observations to validate skeletal records of historical bleaching. A successful outcome will provide novel and valuable insights into the resilience of the CEP reefs and a new tool with which to identify thermally tolerant coral reef ecosystems across the tropics. Additionally, this project includes mentorship of a postdoc and six undergraduate or high school students, outreach through presentations and media, and expansion of publically available software for coral stress band analysis.

Ocean warming projections indicate severe impacts to coral reefs will occur on an annual basis within the next few decades. Consequently, a coordinated effort is underway to identify reefs that might survive these changes. The investigator will test the hypothesis that such reefs exist at the epicenter of influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), where strong inter-annual temperature variability creates conditions conducive for the development of thermal resilience. The project uses laboratory-based bleaching experiments and actual stress signatures accreted by wild corals during the 2015 El Niño to validate signatures of historical bleaching archived in the skeletons of massive reef building corals. In addition the investigator will use new, long cores from the CEP to build a robust dataset of historical bleaching back to the 1800's. A successful outcome will increase confidence in the interpretation of skeletal stress bands as quantitative bleaching proxies and enable the reconstruction of the history of coral reef bleaching and recovery in the CEP.