Data Sources & Attribution

Authoritative scientific providers, retention policies, measurement tiers, and attribution terms.

Live operational telemetry status: ingestion metadata not available
Source Governance

Authoritative Providers & Open Science Attribution

OceanSig synthesizes scientific observations from reputable public institutions. All data utilized on this platform originates from open government portals, cabled observatories, and publicly funded scientific programs.

Explicit Non-Affiliation Statement: OceanSig is an independent research platform. OceanSig is not affiliated with, funded by, certified by, or endorsed by NOAA, NASA, NSF, USGS, OOI, ONC, MBARI, or any government entity. All trademarks, service marks, and data products belong to their respective agencies.

NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW)

Satellite Composite

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NESDIS/STAR)

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Daily Global 5km Satellite Coral Bleaching Heat Stress (v3.1)
  • Regional Virtual Stations (DHW, HotSpot, SST Anomaly)
Role in OceanSig

Primary regional satellite skin thermal stress monitoring and bleaching alert levels (Alert Level 1, Alert Level 2).

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: NOAA Coral Reef Watch. 2026. Daily Global 5km Satellite Coral Bleaching Heat Stress Product Version 3.1. College Park, Maryland, USA: NOAA.

Known Limitations: Measures sub-skin sea surface temperature (~10–20 µm depth) across a 5-km grid cell; does not resolve depth-stratified benthic reef temperatures.

NOAA NOS CO-OPS (Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services)

Direct Physical Sensor

National Ocean Service, NOAA

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • NWLON Water Temperature (6-minute intervals)
  • NWLON Verified & Preliminary Water Level / Tidal Elevation (MLLW datum)
Role in OceanSig

In-situ shallow coastal thermistor observations and tidal hydrodynamic range at Key West Harbor, Vaca Key, and Monterey Harbor Pier 2.

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON).

Known Limitations: Fixed coastal pier/harbor installations. Thermistor at ~0.8m below MLLW in protected waters; cannot be substituted for offshore barrier reef habitat temperatures.

NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC)

Direct Physical Sensor

National Weather Service, NOAA

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Standard Meteorological Data (10-minute/hourly intervals: WTMP, WDIR, WSPD, GST, PRES, WVHT)
Role in OceanSig

Moored offshore buoy observations (Buoy 46042 Monterey, Buoy 46092, Florida Keys marine stations).

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Moored Buoy & C-MAN Observational Telemetry.

Known Limitations: Buoy SST measured via hull-mounted thermistor at ~1.0m depth. Subject to moored location spatial bounds and boundary-layer meteorological conditions.

NOAA AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory)

In-Situ Field Survey

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Cheeca Rocks Experimental Reef In-Situ Survey Reports
  • Coral Bleaching Ground-Truth Photographic Documentation
Role in OceanSig

Field survey validation and qualitative bleaching onset ground-truthing in the Upper Florida Keys.

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: NOAA AOML Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP), National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP).

Known Limitations: Localized diver visual observations. Confirms bleaching onset; does not quantify population-level demographic mortality without post-stress survival surveys.

NOAA PSL (Physical Sciences Laboratory)

Climate Index

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Monthly ERSST.v5 Niño-3.4 Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly Index
Role in OceanSig

Equatorial Pacific ENSO macro-climate background indexing and historical anomaly baseline.

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: NOAA PSL Climate Indices: Monthly Niño 3.4 Index (ERSST.v5). Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Known Limitations: Coarse regional basin index (5°N–5°S, 170°W–120°W); reflects global atmospheric-oceanic teleconnections rather than local reef microclimates.

International Research Institute for Climate & Society (IRI)

Climate Index

Columbia Climate School, Columbia University

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • ENSO Diagnostic Discussion & Multi-Model Probabilistic Forecast Consensus
Role in OceanSig

Corroborating seasonal climate outlook context for tropical cyclone and thermal stress investigations.

Retention & Provenance Status:Retained Raw Bytes with SHA-256 Digests

Attribution: IRI/CPC ENSO Forecast Consensus, Columbia University.

Known Limitations: Ensemble probabilistic model forecast; not a direct physical measurement.

Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) / Cascadia Model

Numerical Synthesis Model

National Science Foundation (NSF) / OOI

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Cascadia Margin Benthic Dissolved Oxygen & Hypoxia Simulation Reference
Role in OceanSig

Cascadia Hypoxia 2026 Investigation. Classified as a PARAMETRIC_SYNTHESIS_MODEL (model simulation fixture).

Retention & Provenance Status:Model Specification

Attribution: Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Endurance Array & Regional Cabled Array reference specifications.

Known Limitations: Classified strictly as a parametric synthesis model. Not backed by raw retained CTD cast bytes; used to evaluate multimodal alignment methodology.

MBARI MARS (Monterey Accelerated Research System)

Acoustic Hydrophone

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Official Agency Portal
Products Utilized
  • Sanctuary Soundscape Deep Benthic Hydrophone Sound Pressure Level (SPL) Integration Framework
Role in OceanSig

Acoustic integration methodology. Classified as ACOUSTIC_EMPIRICAL_INTEGRATION_NOT_YET_GROUNDED.

Retention & Provenance Status:Model Specification

Attribution: MBARI MARS Cabled Observatory & SanctSound Project.

Known Limitations: Benthic hydrophone recording ambient acoustic energy (900m depth). Invariants enforced: sound pressure level is not a direct proxy for animal population count.