Pacific Islands and Tropics Archives

NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program Research Region

Region: Pacific Islands and Tropics

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A National Status Report on United States Coral Reefs Based on 2012–2018 Data From National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Conservation Program supports the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) in the United States Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. NCRMP conducts standardized observations of biological, climatic, and socioeconomic indicators across American Samoa, Guam, the Main Hawaiian Islands, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the

August 6, 2024

A mapped dataset of surface ocean acidification indicators in large marine ecosystems of the United States

Mapped monthly data products of surface ocean acidification indicators from 1998 to 2022 on a 0.25° by 0.25° spatial grid have been developed for eleven U.S. large marine ecosystems (LMEs). The data products were constructed using observations from the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas, co-located surface ocean properties, and two types of machine learning algorithms: Gaussian mixture

July 10, 2024

Coral reef carbonate accretion rates track stable gradients in seawater carbonate chemistry across the U.S. Pacific Islands

The U.S. Pacific Islands span a dramatic natural gradient in climate and oceanographic conditions, and benthic community states vary significantly across the region’s coral reefs. Here we leverage a decade of integrated ecosystem monitoring data from American Samoa, the Mariana Archipelago, the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas to

June 28, 2024

Advancing best practices for assessing trends of ocean acidification time series

Assessing the status of ocean acidification across ocean and coastal waters requires standardized procedures at all levels of data collection, dissemination, and analysis. Standardized procedures for assuring quality and accessibility of ocean carbonate chemistry data are largely established, but a common set of best practices for ocean acidification trend analysis is needed to enable global

June 28, 2024

Quantifying Net Community Production and Calcification at Station ALOHA Near Hawai’i: Insights and Limitations From a Dual Tracer Carbon Budget Approach

A budget approach is used to disentangle drivers of the seasonal mixed layer carbon cycle at Station ALOHA (A Long-term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment) in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG). The budget utilizes data from the WHOTS (Woods Hole—Hawaii Ocean Time-series Site) mooring, and the ship-based Hawai’i Ocean Time-series (HOT) in the NPSG, a region

June 27, 2024

Upwelling and the persistence of coral-reef frameworks in the eastern tropical Pacific

In an era of global change, the fate and form of reef habitats will depend on shifting assemblages of organisms and their responses to multiple stressors. Multiphyletic assemblages of calcifying and bioeroding species contribute to a dynamic balance between constructive and erosive processes, and reef-framework growth occurs only when calcium-carbonate deposition exceeds erosion. Each contributing

June 26, 2024

Linear extension, skeletal density, and calcification rates of the blue coral <em>Heliopora coerulea</em>

The brooding reef-building octocoral Heliopora is widespread on Indo-West Pacific reefs and appears to be relatively resistant to thermal stress, which may enable it to persist locally while scleractinians diminish under Anthropocene conditions. However, basic physiological measurements of “blue corals” are lacking and prevent their inclusion in trait-based studies. We address this by quantifying rates

June 26, 2024

Implications of salinity normalization of seawater total alkalinity in coral reef metabolism studies

Salinity normalization of total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) data is commonly used to account for conservative mixing processes when inferring net metabolic modification of seawater by coral reefs. Salinity (S), TA, and DIC can be accurately and precisely measured, but salinity normalization of TA (nTA) and DIC (nDIC) can generate considerable and

June 25, 2024

Unveiling hidden sponge biodiversity within the Hawaiian reef cryptofauna

Our perception of reef diversity is dominated by corals, fish, and a few other groups that visibly dominate the reef surface. However, the bulk of reef biodiversity resides within the reef framework, and this cryptobiota is fundamentally important for the surface community. Sponges are abundant and conspicuous on the reef surface in productive, continental reefs,

June 24, 2024

Climate downscaling for regional models with a neural network: A Hawaiian example

Global ocean/atmosphere circulation models (GCMs) allow us to better understand and predict the behavior of the ocean and atmosphere at large spatial and temporal scales; however, they may be unsuited for regional studies due to their low spatial resolution. We have developed a method for downscaling GCMs data using an artificial neural network to reconstruct

June 21, 2024

Related Projects

See our funded projects for this Focus Area

Building Capacity for Alaskan Tribes

PI(s): Spencer Weinstein
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: Alaska Sea Grant

Why we care:Alaskan Native communities rely on healthy marine ecosystems for work, sustenance and their way of life. Ocean acidification has documented impacts to marine life and these communities. An..

Supporting Tribal Ocean Acidification Monitoring Programs

PI(s): Jake Cohen
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: Alaska Sea Grant

Carbon capture and ocean acidification mitigation potential by seaweed farms in tropical and subtropical coastal environments

PI(s): Andreas Andersson
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sunburst Sensors

Award amount: $1,451,575Duration: 3 yearsFunding agency: NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) Why we care Growing seaweed in the ocean could be one way to alleviate some..

Multiscale observing system simulation experiments for iron fertilization in the Southern Ocean, Equatorial Pacific, and Northeast Pacific

PI(s): Dennis McGillicuddy
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: National Center For Atmospheric Research (NCAR), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Why we care Iron is a critical limiting nutrient for phytoplankton in the ocean. Iron fertilization adds this limiting nutrient to promote phytoplankton blooms as a way to take up..

Electrolysis-driven weathering of basic minerals for long-term ocean buffering and CO2 reduction

PI(s): Burke Hales
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: Oregon State University, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)

Why we care Ocean alkalinity enhancement has the potential to capture carbon and mitigate ocean acidification. While ocean alkalinity enhancement is a promising approach for removing carbon from the atmosphere,..

An opportunity to study Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement, carbon dioxide removal, and ecosystem impacts through coastal liming

PI(s): Jaime Palter
Fiscal Year Funded: 2023

Partners: Environmental Protection Agency, University of Connecticut, University of Hawaii, University of Rhode Island

Why we care Terrestrial liming, or the addition of a basic (alkaline) material like calcium carbonate to crops and lawns is a common agricultural soil treatment. When applied on land..

Related Publications

See publications produced by our funded projects for this Focus Area

Evaluating the Evolving Ocean Acidification Risk to Dungeness Crab: Time-Series Observations and Modeling on the Olympic Coast, Washington, USA

Simone R. Alin , Samantha A. Siedlecki, Halle Berger, Richard A. Feely, Jeannette E. Waddell, Brendan R. Carter, Jan A. Newton, Ervin Joe Schumacker, Daniel Ayres
Oceanography
October 30, 2023
Dungeness crab

Project(s):
- The Olympic Coast as a Sentinel: An Integrated Social-Ecological Regional Vulnerability Assessment to Ocean Acidification

Citation: Alin, S.R., S.A. Siedlecki, H. Berger, R.A. Feely, J.E. Waddell, B.R. Carter, J.A. Newton, E.J. Schumacker, and D. Ayres. 2023. Evaluating the evolving ocean acidification risk to Dungeness crab: Time-series observations and modeling on the Olympic Coast, Washington, USA. Oceanography 36(2–3):138–147, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2023.216.

Changes in the macrobenthic infaunal community of the Southern California continental margin over five decades in relation to oceanographic factors

David J. Gillett1, Stephen B. Weisberg, Simone R. Alin, Donald Cadien, Ronald Velarde, Kelvin Barwick, Cody Larsen, Ami Latker
Marine Ecology Progress Series
November 9, 2023

Project(s):
- Surveying the state of ocean acidification along the U.S. West Coast
- Sustained OA Cruise Observations

Citation: Gillett DJ, Weisberg SB, Alin SR, Cadien D and others (2023) Changes in the macrobenthic infaunal community of the Southern California continental margin over five decades in relation to oceanographic factors. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 722:65-88. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14415

Mississippi river chemistry impacts on the interannual variability of aragonite saturation state in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Fabian A Gomez, Rik Wanninkhof, Leticia Barbero, Sang-Ki Lee
ESS Open Archive
September 11, 2023

Citation: Fabian A Gomez, Rik Wanninkhof, Leticia Barbero, et al. Mississippi river chemistry impacts on the interannual variability of aragonite saturation state in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. ESS Open Archive . September 11, 2023.

Region: Pacific Islands and Tropics

Related Posts

A National Status Report on United States Coral Reefs Based on 2012–2018 Data From National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program

A mapped dataset of surface ocean acidification indicators in large marine ecosystems of the United States

Coral reef carbonate accretion rates track stable gradients in seawater carbonate chemistry across the U.S. Pacific Islands

Advancing best practices for assessing trends of ocean acidification time series

Quantifying Net Community Production and Calcification at Station ALOHA Near Hawai’i: Insights and Limitations From a Dual Tracer Carbon Budget Approach

Upwelling and the persistence of coral-reef frameworks in the eastern tropical Pacific

Linear extension, skeletal density, and calcification rates of the blue coral <em>Heliopora coerulea</em>

Implications of salinity normalization of seawater total alkalinity in coral reef metabolism studies

Unveiling hidden sponge biodiversity within the Hawaiian reef cryptofauna

Climate downscaling for regional models with a neural network: A Hawaiian example

Related Projects

Building Capacity for Alaskan Tribes

Supporting Tribal Ocean Acidification Monitoring Programs

Carbon capture and ocean acidification mitigation potential by seaweed farms in tropical and subtropical coastal environments

Multiscale observing system simulation experiments for iron fertilization in the Southern Ocean, Equatorial Pacific, and Northeast Pacific

Electrolysis-driven weathering of basic minerals for long-term ocean buffering and CO2 reduction

An opportunity to study Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement, carbon dioxide removal, and ecosystem impacts through coastal liming

Related Publications

Evaluating the Evolving Ocean Acidification Risk to Dungeness Crab: Time-Series Observations and Modeling on the Olympic Coast, Washington, USA

Changes in the macrobenthic infaunal community of the Southern California continental margin over five decades in relation to oceanographic factors

Mississippi river chemistry impacts on the interannual variability of aragonite saturation state in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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