Depth-dependent irradiance from sunrise to sunset across the shallow to mesophotic depth gradient for three coral morphologies from a backward Monte Carlo ray-tracing model on 2021-02-18 (NCEI Accession 0291778)

This dataset contains biological and physical data collectedat Curacao, Cayman Islands on 2021-02-18. These data include PAR and depth. These data were collected by Marc Slattery of University of Mississippi and Michael P. Lesser of University of New Hampshire as part of the "Collaborative Research: Sponge Growth is Nitrogen Limited over the Shallow to Mesophotic Depth Gradient (MCESponge)" project. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) submitted these data to NCEI on 2021-02-22.

The following is the text of the dataset description provided by BCO-DMO:

Acquisition Description:
The results publication for these data has been submitted (Lesser et al., submitted). See further methodology details there once published. Data were analyzed using published inherent optical properties (IOP)s and irradiances for coral reefs.

Inherent optical properties (IOPs)

PAR cos , PAR hs , and PAR br simulate the plating, mounding and branching morphologies of scleractinian corals, respectively, at specific depths. Specifically, planar irradiance, PAR cos is the light intercepted per unit area for a plating coral where the plates are orientated parallel with the reef surface. Hemispherical scalar irradiance, PAR hs , is the light incident on an isolated mounding coral, per unit area of the reef surface it occupies. PAR br is the average light incident per unit area of the coral surface for branching corals, this can be understood as the average light incident on a polyp in a branching coral. Finally, PAR o is the spherical quantum scalar irradiance, equivalent to a ‘4p’ sensor just in front of the reef substrate.

There is no specific location associated with these data. The focus of the project was the Caribbean Basin and the attenuation of light with depth and the role of light in structuring shallow and mesophotic coral reef communities.