University of Redlands
The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), protected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), lies in the Gulf of Mexico where a variety of aquatic habitats reside in reef and coral communities. The FGBNMS conducts and supports monitoring programs by boat ride tailored to the information needs of the sanctuary. In the past, monitoring programs have been conducted and were unable to obtain many results because of difficulties in understanding underlying ocean conditions. This project is developing an ArcGIS Dashboard accessing the NOAA database to display related live oceanographic conditions (currents, wave height, wind, temperature, and salinity) to assist in planning boat rides for the health and safety of species monitoring programs. The FGBNMS live ocean conditions dashboard will be deployed on the ArcGIS Online platform and implemented in future monitoring programs as well as supporting local fishing communities.
