NOAA Deep Sea Corals Research and Technology Program

Description

 NOAA’s Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSC-RTP) is compiling a national geodatabase of the known locations of deep-sea corals and sponges in U.S. territorial waters and beyond. The database will be 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. 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. The current data reflects DSC-RTP Database Version 20230828-0.

To query, visualize, and download data in its native format, please visit our map portal: 
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/deep-sea-corals/mapSites.htm  

For advanced data query and data download, please visit our ERDDAP data access form:  
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/deep_sea_corals.html 

To learn more about deep sea coral and sponge habitats, please visit our website: 
https://deepseacoraldata.noaa.gov/