Description
NOAA’s Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSC-RTP) has compiled a national database of the known locations of deep-sea corals and sponges in U.S. territorial waters and beyond. The database is comprehensive, standardized, quality controlled, and networked to outside resources. The database schema accommodates both linear (trawls, transects) and point (samples, observations) data. The structure of the database is tailored to occurrence records of all the azooxanthellate corals, a subset of all corals, and all sponge species. Fish records are also included when annotated along with coral and sponge occurrences. Records shallower than 50 m are generally excluded in order to focus on predominantly deep-water species – the mandate of the DSC-RTP. The intention is to limit the overlap with light-dependent (and mostly shallow-water) corals. To query, visualize, and download data in its native format, please visit our map portal: Deep-Sea Corals Map Portal. For advanced data query and data download, please visit our ERDDAP data access form: ERDDAP Data Access Form. To learn more about NOAA's National Database for Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges, visit our website: NOAA Deep-Sea Coral Data.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,288,603 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Hourigan T (2024). NOAA Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program. Version 1.22. United States Geological Survey. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/aqbftj
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Geological Survey. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: df8e3fb8-3da7-4104-a866-748f6da20a3c. United States Geological Survey publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.
Keywords
Occurrence; Observation; Occurrence
External data
The resource data is also available in other formats
| Hosted Feature Service, NOAA GeoPlatform | https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=b664c55c156b4b7ea9e03d72eacfee74 UTF-8 ESRI Feature Service |
|---|---|
| CSV of Entire Database | https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=f465861aecac410980a7c601cfec7850 UTF-8 CSV file |
| Official NOAA Archive Page | https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0145037 UTF-8 text |
Contacts
- Metadata Provider
- Deep-Sea Coral Chief Scientist (retired)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1936-2517
- Metadata Provider
- Deep-Sea Coral Chief Scientist (Retired)
- Point Of Contact
- DSCRTP Program Manager
- Point Of Contact
- DSCRTP Data Systems Project Lead
Geographic Coverage
Data were collected primarily from U.S. waters and oceanic regions--the Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. International records are included, but are more sparse than U.S. based occurrences
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180] |
|---|
Taxonomic Coverage
Deep-sea corals, sponges, and fishes.
| Phylum | Porifera, Cnidaria |
|---|---|
| Class | Elasmobranchii, Myxini, Teleostei, Holocephali, Petromyzonti |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1833-01-01 / 2022-09-07 |
|---|
Project Data
The Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program is administered by the Office of Habitat Conservation within NOAA Fisheries. It is the nation’s only federal research program dedicated to increasing scientific understanding of deep-sea coral ecosystems. This work informs critical management decisions about these habitats and the ecosystems they support in every region of the United States and its territories.
| Title | NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program |
|---|---|
| Identifier | DSC-RTP |
| Funding | NOAA |
| Study Area Description | NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (Program) was established in 2007 under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act (or see Section 408). It is the nation’s only federal research program dedicated to increasing scientific understanding of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems. The Program is highly cost-effective and leverages partner expertise and resources to expand its reach, and allow use of the newest technologies. These actions enhance the impact of NOAA’s deep-sea exploration and research efforts. The Program’s cutting edge and collaborative research aids resource managers in developing and evaluating management options for these valuable and vulnerable habitats on which U.S. fisheries and communities depend. The Program works with partners across the nation to support multi-year regional fieldwork initiatives and targeted projects centered on integrating new and existing information—including maintaining a national database of known coral and sponge occurrences—to maximize conservation impact while allowing sustainable fisheries to thrive. These products can be found on our data portal in the form of free downloadable data, interactive maps, images, technical reports, and other products. There are several avenues through which deep-sea corals and sponges can be recognized and protected. The United States’ eight regional fishery management councils can designate Essential Fish Habitat (and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern within Essential Fish Habitat). The councils also work to protect deep-sea corals and sponges through developing fishery management plans and exercising other authorities to minimize bycatch of these important species. NOAA and other governmental bodies may also designate national marine monuments and national marine sanctuaries. The Program provides the latest and best-available information for these management decisions. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-191
| Study Extent | The Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program is tasked with identifying and mapping the locations of deep-sea corals. To meet this mandate, the Program has built a national geographic database that houses spatial records of deep-sea corals and sponges derived from the research funded by the Program, results of other NOAA programs that study the deep sea, and data voluntarily contributed by other federal agencies, research institutions and international organizations. |
|---|---|
| Quality Control | http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-191 |
Method step description:
- http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-191
Bibliographic Citations
- Hourigan, T. F., P. J. Etnoyer, R. P. McGuinn, C. Whitmire, D.S. Dorfman, M. Dornback, S. Cross, D. Sallis. 2015. An Introduction to NOAA’s National Database for Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 191. 27 pp. Silver Spring, MD. doi:10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-191
- McGuinn, RP, TF Hourigan, SL Cross, LM Dornback, PJ Etnoyer, DE Sallis, and HM Coleman. 2020. NOAA’s National Database for Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges: 2020 Status Update. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-OHC-007. 56 p. NMFS-OHC-007
Additional Metadata
marine, harvest by iOBIS
| Acknowledgements | U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) |
|---|---|
| Purpose | NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (Program) was established in 2007 under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act (or see Section 408). It is the nation’s only federal research program dedicated to increasing scientific understanding of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems. The Program is highly cost-effective and leverages partner expertise and resources to expand its reach and allow use of the newest technologies. These actions enhance the impact of NOAA’s deep-sea exploration and research efforts. The Program’s cutting edge and collaborative research aids resource managers in developing and evaluating management options for these valuable and vulnerable habitats on which U.S. fisheries and communities depend. The Program works with partners across the nation to support multi-year regional fieldwork initiatives and targeted projects centered on integrating new and existing information—including maintaining a national database of known coral and sponge occurrences—to maximize conservation impact while allowing sustainable fisheries to thrive. These products can be found on our data portal in the form of free downloadable data, interactive maps, images, technical reports, and other products. There are several avenues through which deep-sea corals and sponges can be recognized and protected. The United States’ eight regional fishery management councils can designate Essential Fish Habitat (and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern within Essential Fish Habitat). The councils also work to protect deep-sea corals and sponges through developing fishery management plans and exercising other authorities to minimize bycatch of these important species. NOAA and other governmental bodies may also designate national marine monuments and national marine sanctuaries. The Program provides the latest and best-available information for these management decisions. |
| Maintenance Description | The program is running on a quarterly update cycles. Updates can include new records and quality improvements to existing occurrence records. |
| Alternative Identifiers | df8e3fb8-3da7-4104-a866-748f6da20a3c |
| https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/56eafb3fe4b0f59b85d91a54 | |
| https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/deep-sea-corals/mapSites.htm | |
| https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/deep_sea_corals.html | |
| https://obis.org/dataset/f5a4799e-dc24-4807-89d9-01da47d52e3b | |
| https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=noaa_dsc_rtp |