Northwestern Coastal Stations Alliance intertidal temperature data, summer 2016

Webber, Hannah; Cleaver, Caitlin

From the abstract: "From 2004 to 2013 the sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Maine rose faster than 99% of the global ocean (Pershing et al. 2015). The data for the Pershing et al. analysis came from satellite-derived sea surface temperatures. Data from intertidal locations around the edge of the Gulf can add to our understanding of change in the coastal zone. The Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA) is a newly formed network of small field stations spanning the Gulf of Maine—from the Maine/New Hampshire border to Nova Scotia. All stations are committed to using and leveraging existing resources (location, personnel, equipment) to contribute coupled abiotic and biotic data to each other and to the larger community to understand change in the Gulf of Maine. The stations range in capacity, structure and mission. Coordinating and sustaining data collection and sharing efforts that fit across a range of capacities requires good communication and iteration. In Summer 2016 we distributed autonomous temperature loggers (Onset® TidbiT® v2 Temp Data Loggers) and a simple, low cost deployment protocol to ten NeCSA field stations to explore standardized methodologies and best practices for data sharing, and to inform our growth as an alliance. We share intertidal temperature data from the summer and insights into the development of our alliance."