The Bocas del Toro Field Station is located on Colon Island in Bocas del Toro province near the border with Costa Rica. To the east is the Caribbean Sea and to the west is a large enclosed bay containing extensive coral reefs and grassbeds surrounded by banana plantations, farms, and forests including extensive mangroves. The area is rapidly being developed for tourism.

Between 2002 and 2005, STRI recorded hourly values of oceanographic and meteorological data, including Solar Radiation, Rain, Ocean Temperature, Tide and Wind Speed. By mid-2005 STRI installed an automated weather station over the bay located to the west of the Field Station (9? 21' 02.96'' N, 82? 15' 28.27'' W), and since then it has been collecting oceanographic and meteorological data at 15 minute intervals.

On April of 2015, and in cooperation with the Smithsonian MarineGEO/Tannenbaum Marine Observations Network (marinegeo.si.edu), a multi-sensor YSI Exo 2 Sonde (www.ysi.com/EXO2) was installed on the platform. This sensor records the following parameters every 5 minutes:

1. Algae fluorescence (Falgae)
2. Chlorophyll Fluorescence (Fchlorophyll)
3. Chlorophyll Mass (Mchlorophyll)
4. Conductivity (Cond)
5. Specific Conductivity (Sp Cond)
6. Fluorescent Dissolved Organic Matter (Fdom)
7. Dissolved Oxygen, uncorrected (ODO)
8. Dissolved Oxygen, corrected for temperature & pressure (ODO Sat)
9. pH
10. Quinine Sulfate surrogate for Fdom (QSefdom)
11. Salinity
12. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
13. Turbidity
14. Water Depth
15. Pressure
16. Water temperature

For a summary of the most recent data collected, plus long-term averages report, please click on the following link:
Yearly_Reports_Bocas_del_Toro
Monthly summaries_Bocas

In addition, the program also collects seawater salinity and transparency (Secchi depth).

Name	Measurements	Dec Lat.	Dec. Long
Main Platform	Electronic air temperature, wind, solar radiation, rel. humidity, tide, water temperature	9.350827	-82.257943
Mangrove A	Weekly water temperature and salinity	9.351917	-82.259083
Mangrove B	Weekly water temperature and salinity	9.352111	-82.259028
Mangrove C	Weekly water temperature and salinity	9.352250	-82.258972
Reef	Weekly water temperature and salinity	9.348500	-82.266000
Seagrass	Weekly water temperature and salinity, Electronic water temp.	9.351694	-82.257806
Dock (muelle)	Daily water temperature, salinity & DO	9.351039	-82.257208
Aquariums (aquarios)	Electronic water temperature	9.351635	-82.256852
Isla Cayo Agua	Daily water temperature, salinity & DO	9.133611	-82.040278
Isla Roldan o Pastores	Electronic water temperature	9.219722	-82.325278

For detailed information on the station and the parameters collected, please download the file Bocas_tower.pdf

Equipment & Methods documents are available for download here.

Parameters	Sensor Model	Type	File	Method
Dissolved O2		Manual		caricomp_manual_2001.pdf
Rainfall	CAMPBELL SCI. CS700 TIPPING BUCKET	Electronic	cs700.pdf
Salinity		Manual		caricomp_manual_2001.pdf
Solar Radiation	LICOR LI200X PYRANOMETER	Electronic	li200x.pdf	Methods_Electronic_Solar_Radiation.pdf
Temperature & RH	Campbell Sci. CS215	Electronic	cs215.pdf	Methods_Electronic_Air_Humidity.pdf
Temperature (water)	107	Electronic	107.pdf
Temperature (water)	Hobo Water Temperature Pro (U22-001)	Electronic	WaterTemp_Hobo_U22_001.pdf
Temperature (water)		Manual	caricomp_manual_2001.pdf
Tide	500-AQUATRAK	Electronic	500-Aquatrak.pdf
Water Transparency	Secchi disk	Manual		caricomp_manual_2001.pdf
Wind Speed & Direction	YOUNG WIND MONITOR AQ	Electronic	Young 05103 Wind Monitor.pdf	Methods_Electronic_Wind_Speed_Dir.pdf
YSI Exo Sonde		Electronic		YSI Exo 2 Sonde.pdf

Parameters	Frequency	Units	Downloads
Air Temperature (max, min, average)	15 Min	celsius	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Air Temperature
Ocean Temperature (average)	15 Min	celsius	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Water Temperature
Rain (total)	15 Min	mm	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Precipitation
Solar Radiation Flux (max, min, average)	15 Min	w/m?	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Solar Radiation, Pyranometer
Relative Humidity (max, min, average)	15 Min	%	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Relative Humidity
Wind Direction (vect mean, std. deviation)	15 Min	degrees	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Wind Direction
Wind Speed (max,min, mean horiz speed)	15 Min	km/hr	Bocas del Toro, Platform Tower_Wind Speed
Water Temperature	60 min	Celsius	Bocas_SST.zip
Air Temperature	Daily	Celsius	Bocas del Toro, Station_Air Temperature, Manual
Met. conditions	Daily	Celsius	Bocas del Toro, Station_Climate Conditions
Dissolved Oxygen	Daily	mg/l	Bocas del Toro, Station_Dissolved Oxygen, Manual
Manual rainfall	Daily	mm	Bocas del Toro, Station_Precipitation, Manual
Salinity	Daily	ppt	Bocas del Toro, Station_Salinity, Manual
Water temperature	Daily	celcius	Bocas del Toro, Station_Water Temperature, Manual
Secchi Depth	Daily	m	Bocas del Toro, Station_Transparency, Manual

Metadata_Bocas.txt

In 1999, STRI initiated a mangrove, seagrass and coral censuses as part of the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity (CARICOMP) program. CARICOMP was a network of marine laboratories, parks, and reserves in 13 islands and 9 mainland countries throughout the Caribbean basin. Member laboratories monitored physical parameters, coral reefs, mangroves, and grassbeds using a common protocol to provide data for long-term comparative studies of biodiversity and productivity in Caribbean coastal ecosystems. While CARICOMP no longer exists, the censuses continue.

STRI monitors three sites (coral, reef, and mangrove) using the Level 1 protocols in the Methods Manual near the main laboratory in Bocas del Toro (See map).

Site	Gradient	Dec. Lat.	Dec. Long.
Isla Colón	Fringe A, CARICOMP	9.351917°	-82.259083°
Isla Colón	Fringe A, CARICOMP	9.352111°	-82.259028°
Isla Colón	Fringe A, CARICOMP	9.352250°	-82.258972°
Isla Colón	Transition	9.352083°	-82.259167°
Isla Colón	Dwarf	9.351944°	-82.259361°
Isla Colón	Land	9.352972°	-82.258111°
Isla Cristobal	Fringe	9.252833°	-82.236333°
Isla Cristobal	Transition	9.252722°	-82.235861°
Isla Cristobal	Dwarf	9.253389°	-82.239861°
Isla Cristobal	Land	9.253389°	-82.239861°
Isla Popa	Fringe	9.231444°	-82.121306°
Isla Popa	Transition	9.230194°	-82.121722°
Isla Popa	Dwarf	9.231444°	-82.121306°
Isla Popa	Land	9.231444°	-82.121306°
Isla Solarte	Fringe	9.309861°	-82.202000°
Isla Solarte	Transition	9.309861°	-82.202000°
Isla Solarte	Dwarf	9.310722°	-82.199944°
Isla Solarte	Land	9.310722°	-82.199944°

For information regarding sample protocols, the following documents should be consulted:

Caricomp_manual_2001.pdf
Bocas mangrove manual_eng.pdf
Caricomp Manual _seagrass.pdf

Guzman et al, 2006 provide a summary of the monitoring program and review of the data collected until 2005.

In collaboration with UNAVCO, a permanent Trimble NETR9 GPS station was installed at the Bocas Marine Station in August of 2013. This station now forms part of COCONet. Data from this station are automatically transmitted by satellite to a central server and can be accessed at this Nevada Geodetic Laboratory web site. More information about that station can be found here: https://pbo.unavco.org/station/overview/CN20

Please read our data use policy before using any data from this page.