FREE online data resources for coral reef managers

Near-real-time remote sensing datasets

Sea Surface Temperature and Derivatives
Bleaching Indices Coral Bleaching Virtual Stations
NOAA Coral Reef Watch 24 global reef sites. Text, images, and e-mail alerts. 50km, twice-weekly.
Degree Heating Weeks Degree Heating Weeks
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Global. GIF, HDF, and Google Earth. 50km, twice-weekly.
HotSpots HotSpots
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Global. GIF, HDF, and Google Earth. 50km, twice-weekly.
Sea Surface Temperature Sea surface temperature
NOAA CoastWatch Many satellites. GIF, binary, HDF, GeoTIFF, and PNG format. 1 to 4km, daily updates.
Sea Surface Temperature Sea surface temperature
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Nighttime only. GIF, HDF, and Google Earth. 50km, twice-weekly.
Sea Surface Temperature SST anomaly
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Global. GIF, HDF, and Google Earth. 50km, twice-weekly.

Ocean Color
Ocean Color Chlorophyll
NASA Global. PNG and HDF. 4km and 9km resolution, daily to yearly. Mg Chla/m3.
Ocean Color Chlorophyll
NOAA CoastWatch Global, various satellites. PNG, GeoTIFF, and HDF. Daily updates, 9km. Mg Chla/m3.

Ocean Surface Winds
Ocean Winds Ocean Surface Winds
NOAA/NESDIS ORA Global wind speed and direction. PNG images. 12.5km, daily. Reported in knots.
Ocean Winds Ocean Surface Winds
NASA PO.DAAC Global winds. HDF, SIR, and binary formats. 12.5km to 0.5degree, daily. Reported in m/s.

Ocean Surface Currents
Ocean Color Ocean Surface Currents
NOAA/NESDIS Experimental global data. JPEG and raw data. 1-degree, 5-day means. Data are in m/s.

True-color Imagery
True-color Images Near-real-time Images
NOAA CoastWatch US Coast. JPEG images, GeoTIFF, or HDF. 250m resolution, daily.

Global Precipitation
True-color Images Precipitation analysis
NOAA CPC Blended satellite and in situ data. GIF images, binary. 2.5-degree, 5-day means. mm/day.
Sea Surface Topography Global precipitation
NASA/JAXA TRMM Microwave rainfall data. GIF images, HDF. 0.25-degree, 3-hours to 1 week. mm/hour.

Sea Surface Topography
Sea Surface Topography Sea surface topography
NASA PO.DAAC Global sea surface height anomaly. Binary format. 2-hour to 1-month. In millimeters.
Sea Surface Topography Sea surface topography
Naval Research Lab From several satellites, in centimeters or meters. GIF images. Daily updates.

Cloud Cover
True-color Images Global Cloud Montage
U of Wisconsin SSEC Global. GIF images and animations. Updated every 6 hours.

Ultraviolet Radiation
True-color Images UV Radiation (ARCHIVE ONLY)
NASA TOMS Global. PNG images or ASCII text. 1 x 1.5 degree, daily. Data from 1978 - 2005.

Near-real-time in situ datasets
ReefBase NOAA ICON stations
In situ, near-real-time data (salinity, wind, light, etc.) for several Caribbean reefs.
ReefBase NOAA CRED instruments
In situ, near-real-time data (salinity, wind, temperature, etc.) for several Pacific reefs.
ReefBase NOAA buoy data
Near-real-time ocean and atmosphere conditions from data buoys around the world.
ReefBase ARGO profiling floats
Open-ocean temperature and salinity profiles from floating buoys around the world.

Forecasts
SeaWiFS bathymetry SST anomaly forecasts
NOAA monthly and three-month forecasts from operational climate models.
ReefBase El Nino forecast
NOAA's current conditions for El Nino, plus seasonal and yearly forecasts.

Other useful data resources online

Satellite Imagery
ReefBase Photos from Landsat
GLCF, U. of Maryland Global, freely-available images at 30m resolution.
ReefBase Photos by astronauts
Archive of reef images taken from space. ReefBase advanced search; type="Space photos."
ReefBase Photos from Landsat
NASA Millennium Coral Reefs Landsat Archive. Global, 30m resolution images of reefs.
ReefBase DMSP Data Archive
NOAA NGDC Global images of clouds and night-time lights. Google Earth, online maps.

Benthic Habitat Maps
ReefBase Benthic habitat maps
NOAA CCMA Habitat maps, for US waters only. GIS and PDF formats.

Coral Reef Bathymetry
SeaWiFS bathymetry Bathymetry
Experimental, produced by NASA from 1km SeaWiFS satellite imagery. Images and PGM raster format.

Stress from Human Threats
SeaWiFS bathymetry Lights Proximity Index
NOAA NGDC Reef stressors estimated from night-time lights observed from DMSP satellites. GIS format.

Coral Reef Information Systems
ReefBase ReefBase
Publications, threats, laws, bleaching, diseases, etc. for global coral reefs.
ReefBase Giovanni
NASA Goddard Online tool to visualize, analyze, and export many NASA remote sensing datasets.
ReefBase NOAA's CoRIS
A single point of access to NOAA coral reef information and data products.

About this webpage
This page organizes data resources we hope will be of use to coral reef managers and researchers. We focus on near-real-time global information that is freely available over the web. This work was supported by NOAA, and by the World Bank Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management Project. more details about this page...