Abstract:

The data submitted here are the result of a data mining effort to assess trends in the occurrence and duration of red tides caused by Karenia brevis on the Texas coast. Articles from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper (1955-2016) were read for information pertaining to the presence of red tide blooms. The articles are included as PDF formatted files here. This information was summarized into a daily presence/absence spreadsheet for a total of 16 areas along the Texas Coast. The 16 areas include the major bays of Texas (9) as well as coastal zone segments (7). The coastal zone was divided into segments based on estuarine connections with the Gulf of Mexico (i.e. the coastal zone between Packery Channel and Aransas Pass constitutes one coastal zone segment). The 16 areas are: Coastal Zone from Land Cut to Mexico Border, Lower Laguna Madre Estuary, Coastal Zone from Packery Channel to Land Cut, Coastal Zone from Aransas Pass to Packery Channel, Baffin Bay Estuary, Upper Laguna Madre Estuary, Nueces Estuary, Mission-Aransas Estuary, Guadalupe Estuary, Coastal Zone from Port O'Connor to Aransas Pass, Coastal Zone from Brazosport to Port O'Connor, Lavaca-Colorado Estuary, Coastal Zone from Bolivar Roads to Brazosport, Trinity-San Jacinto Estuary, Coastal Zone from Louisiana Border to Bolivar Roads. A shapefile package is included in this dataset for easy visualization of the major bays and coastal zone segments. Environmental data was received from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (1977-2016) and includes salinity and water temperature (°C). This data was used to explain variation in the presence/absence and duration of red tides in Texas coastal waters. Latitude and longitude are included where available. Empty cells represent non-existent data. Also included in this dataset is example R code used for statistical analyses performed for the study. The version of R used for this study was 3.5.2.

Suggested Citation:

Tominack, Sarah A., Kara Z. Coffey, David Yoskowitz, Gail Sutton, and Michael S. Wetz. 2020. Data Related to the Occurrence and Duration of Red Tides (Karenia brevis) on the Texas coast from 1955-09-12 to 2016-10-27. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/7VRN6BXA

Publications:

Tominack, S. A., Coffey, K. Z., Yoskowitz, D., Sutton, G., & Wetz, M. S. (2020). An assessment of trends in the frequency and duration of Karenia brevis red tide blooms on the South Texas coast (western Gulf of Mexico). PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239309. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239309

Purpose:

This dataset was created to assess long term trends in Karenia brevis red tides on the Texas coast. The analysis included modelling the occurrence of red tides as well as the duration. The results of these analyses will aid in the creation of predictive models, allowing resource managers and other scientists to prepare for a response to the harmful red tides.

Data Parameters and Units:

The dataset consists of multiple excel files, R files with example R code used for statistical analyses performed for the study, a folder of pdf files of newspaper articles from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper (1955-2016), and a folder with a shapefile package for easy visualization of the major bays and coastal zone segments. The version of R used for this study was 3.5.2. The excel files contain details on Red tide occurrences over decades and environmental data that was received from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (1977-2016) which includes salinity, water temperature (°C), Latitude and longitude (where available). Please note empty cells represent non-existent data. Main parameters: salinity (unit-less), temperature (°C), presence/absence (binomial with presence = 1 and absence = 0), duration (days), latitude and longitude (decimal degrees), sampling date (MM/DD/YY HH:MM), station code, Bay System/Coastal Zone Segment.

Methods:

Data about the occurrence of "red tides" were collected by reading newspaper article archives from the Corpus Christi Caller Times. Any articles mentioning "red tides" were read and information summarized into a daily presence/absence spreadsheet for a total of 16 areas along the Texas Coast. The 16 areas include the major bays of Texas (9) as well as coastal zone segments (7). Environmental data were obtained from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Example R code from the modelling of these data is also included in this dataset.

Individual Files: