Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Return to search results

National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Bioerosion Monitoring Unit Data from BMUs deployed at coral reef sites in American Samoa from 2018-06-29 to 2023-08-15 (NCEI Accession 0300481)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 04:53 AM | Dataset Last Updated: January 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Ocean Acidification (OA) is expected to reduce the calcification rates of marine organisms, yet we have little understanding of how OA will manifest within dynamic, real-world systems, nor how to accurately measure said manifestation. The term bioerosion refers to the biological destruction of hard structures, such as coral skeletons. On coral reefs, this process is the antithesis of coral calcification. If rates of bioerosion are higher than calcification, healthy reef habitats can erode into rubble and sand. The erosion rates provided in this data set were collected from bioerosion monitoring units (BMUs) retrieved at existing long-term monitoring sites during NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led NCRMP missions around American Samoa. This archive package contains BMU data from permanent long-term monitoring sites in American Samoa that were analyzed at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). BMUs are constructed from clean coral skeletons and left on the reef for a period of 3 years. BMUs are CT scanned for changes in density, volume and mass in which rates of bioerosion can be assessed using Amira analysis software (FEI). Annual erosion and accretion rates can be determined from these data in terms of loss of reef structure volume as well as mass in grams of calcium carbonate. Accretion rates given in this data set were determined by finding the volume of non-original carbonate material found on the external surface of the BMUs divided by the number of years the BMU was deployed on the reef. These rates can detect accretion signals when calcifying organisms, such as corals or algae, have grown on their exteriors. Rates of macroboring were determined by changes in the internal volume of the BMUs (e.g., that removed by bore holes) divided by the number of years the BMU was deployed on the reef. Macroboring can occur from eroders such as, clionaid sponges, annelids and other macroboring fauna. This field mission was cut short due to vessel issues so not all sites were visited from the Pacific remote island areas.

Resources

6 resources available

Find Related Datasets

Search by Tags

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

0300481 BIOEROSION in situ laboratory analyses survey - coral reef NOAA Ship Rainier NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.info@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description Ocean Acidification (OA) is expected to reduce the calcification rates of marine organisms, yet we have little understanding of how OA will manifest within dynamic, real-world systems, nor how to accurately measure said manifestation. The term bioerosion refers to the biological destruction of hard structures, such as coral skeletons. On coral reefs, this process is the antithesis of coral calcification. If rates of bioerosion are higher than calcification, healthy reef habitats can erode into rubble and sand. The erosion rates provided in this data set were collected from bioerosion monitoring units (BMUs) retrieved at existing long-term monitoring sites during NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led NCRMP missions around American Samoa. This archive package contains BMU data from permanent long-term monitoring sites in American Samoa that were analyzed at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). BMUs are constructed from clean coral skeletons and left on the reef for a period of 3 years. BMUs are CT scanned for changes in density, volume and mass in which rates of bioerosion can be assessed using Amira analysis software (FEI). Annual erosion and accretion rates can be determined from these data in terms of loss of reef structure volume as well as mass in grams of calcium carbonate. Accretion rates given in this data set were determined by finding the volume of non-original carbonate material found on the external surface of the BMUs divided by the number of years the BMU was deployed on the reef. These rates can detect accretion signals when calcifying organisms, such as corals or algae, have grown on their exteriors. Rates of macroboring were determined by changes in the internal volume of the BMUs (e.g., that removed by bore holes) divided by the number of years the BMU was deployed on the reef. Macroboring can occur from eroders such as, clionaid sponges, annelids and other macroboring fauna. This field mission was cut short due to vessel issues so not all sites were visited from the Pacific remote island areas.
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0300481",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Descriptive Information",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/oas/300481",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "HTTPS",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/download/300481",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "FTP",
    "accessURL": "ftp://ftp-oceans.ncei.noaa.gov/nodc/archive/arc0233/0300481/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "These data are available through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is no longer supported by most internet browsers. You may copy and paste the FTP link to the data into an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla or WinSCP).",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "GCMD Keyword Forum Page",
    "accessURL": "https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Contact Information",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Information for contacts at NCEI.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  }
]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions/iso/xml/0300481.xml
issued 2025-01-07T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "0300481",
  "BIOEROSION",
  "in situ",
  "laboratory analyses",
  "survey - coral reef",
  "NOAA Ship Rainier",
  "NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory",
  "NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory",
  "Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)",
  "CORAL REEF STUDIES",
  "National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP)",
  "Equatorial Pacific Ocean",
  "National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa",
  "North Pacific Ocean",
  "South Pacific Ocean",
  "oceanography",
  "AOML",
  "Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory",
  "DOC/NOAA/OAR/AOML > Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "743",
  "National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP)",
  "Numeric Data Sets > Bioerosion",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Erosion > Bioerosion",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > CORAL REEFS",
  "BMU - Bioerosion Monitoring Unit",
  "Ships",
  "RAINIER (call sign: WTEF, ICES code: 315R, 1968-)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > American Samoa > American Samoa (14S170W0000)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > American Samoa > Tutuila Island (14S170W0016)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > Ofu Island > Ofu (14S169W0002)",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > Ta'u Island > Ta'u (14S169W0015)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > American Samoa > American Samoa (14S170W0000)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > American Samoa > Tutuila Island (14S170W0016)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Manu'a Group > Ofu (14S169W0002)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Manu'a Group > Ta'u (14S169W0015)",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN > AMERICAN SAMOA",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN",
  "F224LT"
]
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2025-01-15T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
rights otherRestrictions
spatial -169.441015,-14.36355,-170.81197,-14.18057
temporal 2018-06-29T00:00:00+00:00/2023-08-01T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Bioerosion Monitoring Unit Data from BMUs deployed at coral reef sites in American Samoa from 2018-06-29 to 2023-08-15 (NCEI Accession 0300481)

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov