OVERVIEW

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING

The Bazaruto Archipelago: a biodiversity hotspot

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region stretches from the Horn of Africa (Somalia) to the southern tip of South Africa. Over 20 marine conservation areas and national parks exist in this coastline, nine of them located within Mozambique. One of the most important, the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (BANP) supports coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangrove forests, sand banks, deep canyons, and narrow shelves that quickly connect with the open ocean.

The BANP is a group of five islands in the Inhambane Province, Mozambique, classified as a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 1971. This Marine Park is a conservation priority owing to its significance for contributing to biodiversity and the important goods and services provided by the variety of marine ecosystems. The marine life that inhabits the BANP includes: humpback whales, dolphins and sharks, marlin and tuna, sailfish, wahoo, king mackerel, great trevally, groupers, rays, manta rays, reef fish and turtles.

Resources are currently under threat of exploitation by artisanal fisheries and local communities. The BANP is an example of a pristine coastal location that is quickly undergoing changes following human development that impacts local to regional ecosystems.

OCEAN MONITORING

The first permanent multi ecosystem time-series Ocean Observatory in Africa

Monitoring across spatiotemporal scales is key to understand the magnitude of regional pressures including climate change and human impact on marine coastal ecosystems such as the BANP.

The BCSS Ocean Observatory contributes to the ongoing data gathered by cruises such as the GEOTRACES Program, the SIBER-SCOR Indian Ocean Programme, and the GOA-ON international network (NOAA/UNESCO endorsed).

The main objectives of the Observatory are:

i) To monitor spatiotemporal variability in seawater key parameters relevant to Climate Change/Ocean Acidification (OA) and Human Impact/Pollution concerns at a local, regional and global level.

ii) To identify the current and future marine environmental status of the BANP, and how Climate Change/OA and Human impact/ pollution affect its ecosystems, with the ultimate goal to be a long-term oceanographic reference for the WIO region.

iii) To effectively and timely transfer BANP Ocean Observatory time-series outcomes to relevant local, regional/national, and international communities in a way that is used to inform management, conservation and policy decisions.

The Bazaruto Archipelago Ocean Observatory is a unique platform managed by BCSS on Benguerra Island, endorsed by NOAA and GOA-ON, with Mozambican IPI protection under license No. XXX, approved for operation via MCT license No. XXX and ANAC license No. XXX.

OPEN (no restrictions)
Available to all for download/usage
Jurisdiction Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC0BY-4.0)
A DOI name shall be used to cite and link BCSS datasets

Ocean: Continuous time-series data
Data type	Data sub-type	Parameter	Units	Method	Stations
Satellite	Physics	Sea Surface Temperature (SST)	ºC	Remote Sensing Algorhythm	6 sectors (see methods)
Satellite	Biology	Sea Surface Chlorophyll a (Chl. a)	mg m-3	Remote Sensing Algorhythm	6 sectors (see methods)
Weather	Physics	Air Temperature	ºC	Weather Station Sensors	Benguerra Island (bulk) Lat -21.84611 Long +35.45169
		Wind Speed	m s-1
		Wind Direction	vector
		Air Humidity	%
		Atmospheric pressure	mbar
		Rain fall	mm

OPEN (with restrictions after signing the Data Agreement under BCSS’s Terms & Conditions)
Available to signatory parties for downloading/usage
Jurisdiction Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC0BY-4.0)
A DOI name shall be used to cite and link BCSS datasets

Ocean: Continuous time-series data
Data type	Data sub-type	Parameter	Units	Method	Stations
Seabed Environment	Physics	Seawater Temperature	ºC	HOBO sensor	1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Seabed Environment	Physics	Light Intensity	lux	HOBO sensor	1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Megafauna Tagging & Tracking
	Humpback Whale Photo ID Catalogue	Date/Time	n/a	Photo ID with High-Resolution Camera	All routes
		ID Photographs	Fluke Images
		GPS	Coordinates
	Acoustic	Detections	nº	VEMCO V16 & Receiver	1, 3, 4, 6
	Satellite	GPS track	coordinates	LOTEK Ki-Wi (dive sensor)	All routes
		Depth	m
		Seawater Temperature	ºC
UNDERWATER SOUND	Acoustics	Sound files (.sud .xml .wav .csv)	n/a	ST300/600 hydrophone	1, 4

Ocean: Monthly time-series data
Data type	Data sub-type	Parameter	Units	Method	Stations
Seawater Chemistry	Carbonate Chemistry
		Total Alkalinity (TA)	µmol kg-1	VINDTA 3C	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
		Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC)	µmol kg-1	VINDTA 3C
		pHtotal	n/a	YSI multiparameter probe
	Elemental Chemistry	Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients (N, P, Si)	µM	Spectrophotometer
		Dissolved Major Elements (Ca, Mg, Sr, Na etc)	µM, mM, nM	ICP-OES/MS
		Dissolved Minor Elements (Cu, Pb, Hg, Al etc)	µM, mM, nM	ICP-OES/MS
	Physics	Seawater Temperature	ºC	YSI multiparameter probe
		Seawater Salinity	psu
		Seawater Dissolved Oxygen (DO)	mg L-1
Plankton Biomass	Biochemistry	C:N ratios	n/a	Elemental Analyzer (EA)	Transects Station 1, 5, 6
Plankton Biomass	Biochemistry	C:N stable isotopes	‰	Isotope-ratio MS & Elemental Analyzer (EA)	Transects Station 1, 5, 6
Megafauna & Coral
	Boat ID surveys
		Date/Time	n/a	Visual ID & Surveys	All routes
		Species count	nº
		GPS	coordinates
		Depth	m
	Diving ID surveys
		Date/Time	n/a	Visual ID & Transects	1, 6
		Species count	nº
		GPS	coordinates
		Depth	m
	Coral Cover & Bleaching surveys
		Date/Time	n/a	Visual ID & Quadrats
		Species count	nº
		GPS	coordinates
		Depth	m
	Skeleton Carbonate	Major Elements (Ca, Mg, Sr, Na etc)	µM, mM, nM	Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES/MS)
	Skeleton Carbonate	Minor Elements (Cu, Pb, Hg, Al etc)	µM, mM, nM	Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES/MS)


	Megafauna Biochemistry	C:N:P ratios	n/a	Elemental Analyzer (EA)	All routes
		C:N stable isotopes	‰	Isotope-ratio MS & Elemental Analyzer (EA)
		Heavy Metals	ppm, ppb	ICP-OES/MS
		PCBs	ppm, ppb	Solid Phase Microstraction (SPME)
		Dioxins	ppm, ppb	HRGC-HRMS
	Megafauna Genetics	eDNA calibration	n/a	Sample collection available for analytics
	Megafauna Genetics	Gene expression	n/a	Sample collection available for analytics

Land: monthly time-series data
Data type	Data sub-type	Parameter	Units	Method	Stations
Marine Debris	n/a	Date/Time	n/a	Visual ID & Surveys	Benguerra Island sectors
		GPS	coordinates
		Total Count	nº
		Total Weight	gr
		Origin/Users	n/a
		Sector/Industry	n/a
		Brand	n/a
		Country	n/a

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need more information or details regarding the BCSS data.

DATA TYPES

Access our platform and data products directly

DATA TYPE 1: OPEN (no restrictions) – anyone can download/ use – reported to government/authorities

Things like temperature and chlorophyll from the satellited, weather numerical data from BCSS weather station, any data BCSS feels like opening publicly unrestricted under a DOI and a Creative Commons Licence.

DATA TYPE 2: OPEN (after signing a Data Agreement under BCSS terms) – signatory parties can download/use- reported to government/authorities

Things like complex datasets or mixed datasets that will make
a peer-reviewed publication, total alkalinity (TA), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), multiprobe sensor YSI-pH, YSI-dissolved oxygen, USI-salinity, YSI-temperature, dissolved nutrients, dissolved heavy metals, dissolved mercury, stable isotopes, DNA barcosing, plankton data, VEMCO megafauna tracking list, LOTEK satellite data tracks, seabed 3D bathymetry mapr,s 3D bathymetry raw XYZ data, 3D bathymetry raw ArcGIS shapefiles/ rasters and layers, certain GPS coordinates of animals and seabed featured, any data BCSS feels like opening publicly restricted by signed agreement under a DOI and a Creative Commons Licence.

DATA TYPE 3: CLOSED (to the public) – reported to government/authorities if needed/found necessary

Things like confidential GPS spots, secret diving spots, secret fishing spots, sensible spawning aread, spoth holding any element BCSS feels like there is a risk to release any data/ information in relation to it, hotspots of endangered species, trackings of endangered species, any sensitive information, data that BCSS wants only for internal use. DATA TYPE 3 could become DATA TYPE 2 upon request and at BCSS’s discretion as longas there is a sound justification.

Type 1: Sea Surface Temperature (SST – °C)

Type 1: Chlorophyll a (Chl a – mg m-3)

Type 1: Air Temperature (sensor) (ºC)
Type 1: Wind Type 1: Speed/Direction (sensor) (m s-1)
Type 1: Air humidity (sensor) (%)
Type 1: Atmospheric Pressure (sensor) (mbar)
Type 1: Rain fall (sensor) (mm)

Type 2: Seabed temperature (HOBO) (ºC)
Type 2: Seabed Light (HOBO) (lux)
Megafauna detection data (VEMCO receiver) (detection nº)
Type 3: Megafauna satellite data (LOTEK) (GPS tracks)
Hydrophone/SoundTrap data (ST 600) (Recordings)

Type 2: Total Alkalinity – TA (bottled) ()
Type 2: Dissolved Inorganic Carbok – DIC (bottled) ()
Type 2: Major elements (bottled) ()
Type 2: Temperature (YSI probe) (ºC)
Type 2: Salinity (YSI probe) ()
Type 2: Dissolved Oxygen (YSI probe) ()
pHtotal (YSI probe) (n/a)
Type 2: Plankton tow (50-200 net) (Various)
Type 2: Coral carbonate samples (dried) (Various)
Type 2: Benthic invertebrate samples (dried) (Various)
Type 2: Megafauna ID spatial data (boat surveys) (Various)
Type 2: Megafauna isotope/DNA samples (Various)
Type 2: Seabed 3D multi beam data (boat surveys) (ArcGIS file extensions)

Type 2: Plastic surveys data (Various)
Type 2: Permaculture data (Various)