Coral calcification in massive Porites of the Great Barrier Reef, over a 400 year period

Annual calcification rates were investigated using samples from 328 colonies of massive Porites corals from 69 reefs along the Great Barrier Reef. This subset of data contains 16,472 annual records derived from corals ranging in age from 10-436 years, mostly collected in 1983-1992 (139 colonies from 56 reefs) and 2002-2005 (189 colonies from 13 reefs). The data are a subset from the Coral Core Archive of the Australian Institute of Marine Science.The data was further subdivided into two periods: 1900-2005 contained all 328 colonies; 1572-2001 contained 10 long cores (from 7 reefs, colonies that covered all or most of the period).Growth variables were determined from each colony using standard x-ray and gamma densitometry techniques: skeletal density (grams per cubic centimeter), annual extension (linear growth, cm per year), and calcification rate (the product of skeletal density and annual extension; grams per square centimeter per year).Mean annual sea surface temperature (SST) records were obtained from the HadISST1 global SST compilation (1°-square resolution) for the period 1900-2006.As of March 2013, a problem was identified, in which the width of the last measured annual bands might have been underestimated. This was found to have potentially affected 84 last years of the data. A link is provided to the amended dataset, from which these 84 years have been removed. This adjustment reduces the magnitude of the decline in calcification since 1990 reported by De'ath et al (2009) from 14.1% to 11.2% - still significant. To examine coral calcification rates over the last 400 years. Sampling locations: Cid Harbour, Conical Rocks, Jeannie River, Nelly Bay, Portland Roads; 13-050, 13-055, 20-200, 21-141, Abraham, Agincourt, Ashmore, Batt, Boulder, Britomart, Brook, Coombe, Credlin, Darnley, Dunk, Eel, Flinders, Hannah, Havannah, Hook, Kelso, Kent, Kurrimine, Lagoon, Lodestone, Magnetic, Masthead, McDonald [MacDonald], Middle Percy, Myrmidon, Normanby, Otter, Pandora, Pascoe, Pipon, Rib, Sanctuary, Scawfell, Stanley, Stonehaven, Sweetlip, Two Isles, Tydeman, Undine, Wheeler and Yankee Reefs; Bedarra, Burkitt, Double, East Hope, Flinders, Great Palm, Hay, High, Low, Lupton, Night, North Molle, Red Wallis, Rocky, Shaw, Snapper, South Molle, South Petherbridge, Stephens, Watson and Whitsunday Islands.