Website

Region(s)

SE

Summary

Bottom Temperatures on Coral Reefs

Parameters

Depth (ft), water temperature (deg. C)

Notes

Data available to FKNMS Managers and others who monitor and assess environmental conditions that influence FKNMS areas of the Florida Reef Tract.

Application

To document bottom seawater temperature in strategic areas of the Florida Reef Tract on a continuing basis and make that information available to management and research user groups. These thermographs provide valuable information regarding temperature conditions on the sea floor, which indicate the actual environmental exposures for benthic organisms. Initially, the collected data are made available to FKNMS Managers and others who monitor and assess environmental conditions that influence FKNMS areas of the Florida Reef Tract. An archival copy of these data is maintained and available from the U.S. National Oceanographic Data Center.

Publications

Data portals

Start

1988

End

Current

Frequency

Continuous

Method

A total of 38 subsurface recording thermographs (Ryan Industries, Inc. and Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. thermographs) have been deployed in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and at other selected locations on the Florida Reef Tract and associated hydrologic ecosystems. These instruments have been programmed to record at 2 hour intervals and are placed in permanent housings attached to suitable substrate. Data retrieval, servicing and reprogramming for continuous deployment have occurred, on average, annually.

Discontinuity

Due to mechanical problems with some instruments, there are occasional gaps in the data streams from some of the monitoring stations.

Data Location

https://www.coris.noaa.gov/search/catalog/main/home.page Search for "continuous bottom temperature measurements"

Data Format

CSV

Habitats

Water Column

SEACAR Citation

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). (2014). Continuous Bottom Temperature Measurements along the Florida Reef Tract. Updated 07/13/2026. Distributed by: SEACAR Data Discovery Interface, Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. https://data.florida-seacar.org/programs/details/989

Alternative Citation

indicates priority attributes