Search for: All records

Once one of the predominant reef-building corals in the region,Acropora cervicornisis now a focal species of coral restoration efforts in Florida and the western Caribbean. Scientists and restoration practitioners have been independently collecting phenotypic data on genets ofA. cervicornisgrown in restoration nurseries. While these data are important for understanding the intraspecific response to varying environmental conditions, and thus the potential genetic contribution to phenotypic variation, in isolation these observations are of limited use for large-scale, multi- institution restoration efforts that are becoming increasingly necessary. Here, we present theAcropora cervicornisData Coordination Hub, a web-accessible relational database to align disparate datasets to compare genet-specific performance. In this data descriptor, we release data for 248 genets evaluated across 38 separate traits. We present a framework to align datasets with the ultimate goal of facilitating informed, data-driven restoration throughout the Caribbean.

 

Effective data management plays a key role in oceanographic research as cruise-based data, collected from different laboratories and expeditions, are commonly compiled to investigate regional to global oceanographic processes. Here we describe new and updated best practice data standards for discrete chemical oceanographic observations, specifically those dealing with column header abbreviations, quality control flags, missing value indicators, and standardized calculation of certain properties. These data standards have been developed with the goals of improving the current practices of the scientific community and promoting their international usage. These guidelines are intended to standardize data files for data sharing and submission into permanent archives. They will facilitate future quality control and synthesis efforts and lead to better data interpretation. In turn, this will promote research in ocean biogeochemistry, such as studies of carbon cycling and ocean acidification, on regional to global scales. These best practice standards are not mandatory. Agencies, institutes, universities, or research vessels can continue using different data standards if it is important for them to maintain historical consistency. However, it is hoped that they will be adopted as widely as possible to facilitate consistency and to achieve the goals stated above. 

Abstract. Internally consistent, quality-controlled (QC) data products play animportant role in promoting regional-to-global research efforts tounderstand societal vulnerabilities to ocean acidification (OA). However,there are currently no such data products for the coastal ocean, where mostof the OA-susceptible commercial and recreational fisheries and aquacultureindustries are located. In this collaborative effort, we compiled, quality-controlled, and synthesized 2 decades of discrete measurements ofinorganic carbon system parameters, oxygen, and nutrient chemistry data fromthe North American continental shelves to generate a data product calledthe Coastal Ocean Data Analysis Product in North America (CODAP-NA). Thereare few deep-water (> 1500 m) sampling locations in the currentdata product. As a result, crossover analyses, which rely on comparisonsbetween measurements on different cruises in the stable deep ocean, couldnot form the basis for cruise-to-cruise adjustments. For this reason, carewas taken in the selection of data sets to include in this initial releaseof CODAP-NA, and only data sets from laboratories with known qualityassurance practices were included. New consistency checks and outlierdetections were used to QC the data. Future releases of this CODAP-NAproduct will use this core data product as the basis for cruise-to-cruisecomparisons. We worked closely with the investigators who collected andmeasured these data during the QC process. This version (v2021) of theCODAP-NA is comprised of 3391 oceanographic profiles from 61 researchcruises covering all continental shelves of North America, from Alaska toMexico in the west and from Canada to the Caribbean in the east. Data for 14variables (temperature; salinity; dissolved oxygen content; dissolvedinorganic carbon content; total alkalinity; pH on total scale; carbonateion content; fugacity of carbon dioxide; and substance contents of silicate,phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, nitrate plus nitrite, and ammonium) have beensubjected to extensive QC. CODAP-NA is available as a merged data product(Excel, CSV, MATLAB, and NetCDF; https://doi.org/10.25921/531n-c230,https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ncei/ocads/metadata/0219960.html, last access: 15 May 2021)(Jiang et al., 2021a). The original cruise data have also been updated withdata providers' consent and summarized in a table with links to NOAA'sNational Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archives(https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-acidification-data-stewardship-oads/synthesis/NAcruises.html). 

In this paper, we outline the need for a coordinated international effort toward the building of an open-access Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas (GO 2 DAT) complying with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). GO 2 DAT will combine data from the coastal and open ocean, as measured by the chemical Winkler titration method or by sensors (e.g., optodes, electrodes) from Eulerian and Lagrangian platforms (e.g., ships, moorings, profiling floats, gliders, ships of opportunities, marine mammals, cabled observatories). GO 2 DAT will further adopt a community-agreed, fully documented metadata format and a consistent quality control (QC) procedure and quality flagging (QF) system. GO 2 DAT will serve to support the development of advanced data analysis and biogeochemical models for improving our mapping, understanding and forecasting capabilities for ocean O 2 changes and deoxygenation trends. It will offer the opportunity to develop quality-controlled data synthesis products with unprecedented spatial (vertical and horizontal) and temporal (sub-seasonal to multi-decadal) resolution. These products will support model assessment, improvement and evaluation as well as the development of climate and ocean health indicators. They will further support the decision-making processes associated with the emerging blue economy, the conservation of marine resources and their associated ecosystem services and the development of management tools required by a diverse community of users (e.g., environmental agencies, aquaculture, and fishing sectors). A better knowledge base of the spatial and temporal variations of marine O 2 will improve our understanding of the ocean O 2 budget, and allow better quantification of the Earth’s carbon and heat budgets. With the ever-increasing need to protect and sustainably manage ocean services, GO 2 DAT will allow scientists to fully harness the increasing volumes of O 2 data already delivered by the expanding global ocean observing system and enable smooth incorporation of much higher quantities of data from autonomous platforms in the open ocean and coastal areas into comprehensive data products in the years to come. This paper aims at engaging the community (e.g., scientists, data managers, policy makers, service users) toward the development of GO 2 DAT within the framework of the UN Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD) program recently endorsed by IOC-UNESCO. A roadmap toward GO 2 DAT is proposed highlighting the efforts needed (e.g., in terms of human resources). 

Carbonate chemistry variables such as PCO₂, pH, and mineral saturation state (Ω) are commonly thought of as covarying in open‐ocean settings but have decoupled over geologic time‐scales and among modern dynamic coastal margins and estuaries. Predicting responses of vulnerable coastal organisms to past, present, and future ocean acidification (OA) scenarios requires the empirical identification of organismal sensitivity thresholds to individual carbonate chemistry parameters. Conversely, most OA experiments involve chemistry manipulations that result in covariance of carbonate system variables. We developed the Dynamic Ocean Acidification Manipulation Experimental System (DOAMES)—a feed‐forward, flow‐through carbonate chemistry control system capable of decoupling PCO₂, pH, orΩby independently manipulating total alkalinity (TAlk) and total inorganic carbon (TCO₂). DOAMES proof‐of‐concept can manipulate source seawater with stable or variable carbonate chemistry and produce experimental treatments with constant and dynamic carbonate chemistry regimes. The combination of dynamic input and output allows for offset treatments that impose a ΔPCO₂on naturally variable conditions. After overcoming several operational challenges, DOAMES is capable of simultaneously generating three different experimental treatments within 1% ± 1% of TCO₂and TAlk targets. The achieved precision and accuracy resulted in the successful decoupling of pH andΩ_Arin five trials. We tested the viability of sensitive bivalve embryos raised in DOAMES‐manipulated seawater and found no difference in development when compared to the control, demonstrating DOAMES suitability for organismal studies. DOAMES provides a novel tool to evaluate organismal effects of exposure to decoupled carbonate system variables and to past, current, and future carbonate chemistry scenarios.