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Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Long-Term Monitoring of the Coral Reef Caps of East Flower Garden Bank and West Flower Garden Bank

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 08:16 AM | Dataset Last Updated: June 30, 2026 at 12:00 AM
These datasets contain 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.

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0306920 0308032 0312371 0315736 0315737 0315949 AMMONIA (NH3) ARAGONITE SATURATION STATE

Complete Metadata
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accessLevel non-public
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describedByType application/octet-steam
description These datasets contain 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.
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions/iso/xml/NOS-FGBNMS-CoralReefs.xml
issued 2025-08-07T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
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  "ARAGONITE SATURATION STATE",
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  "FISH - CORAL REEF",
  "FISH CENSUS",
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  "FLUORESCENCE",
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  "LATITUDE",
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  "NITRATE",
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  "PHOTOQUADRAT IMAGES",
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  "SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
  "SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - COUNT",
  "SPONGE SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
  "total alkalinity",
  "Total nitrogen",
  "TOTAL PHOSPHORUS",
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  "Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary",
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  "LONG TERM MONITORING EAST-WEST FLOWER GARDEN BANKS",
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  "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION",
  "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 > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > REEF > CORAL REEF",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > CORAL REEFS > CORAL BLEACHING",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY",
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  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NITRATE",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > NITRITE",
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  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN",
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  "JT507T",
  "M5FR3H",
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landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2026-06-30T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
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rights otherRestrictions
spatial -93.58,27.84,-93.84,27.94
temporal 2019-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/2024-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Long-Term Monitoring of the Coral Reef Caps of East Flower Garden Bank and West Flower Garden Bank

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