Introduction

Two multi-day hydrographic survey cruises were conducted to acquire spatially extensive, high-resolution three-dimensional measurements of currents, temperature, salinity and turbidity were made off West Maui in the winter and summer of 2003 to better understand coastal dynamics in coral reef habitats. The studies were conducted in support of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program’s Coral Reef Project. The purpose of these cruises was to collect hydrographic data to better constrain the nature of how currents and water column properties such as water temperature, salinity and turbidity in the vicinity of nearshore coral reef systems vary over relatively large (~ 20 km) spatial scales. These measurements support the ongoing process studies being conducted under the Coral Reef Project; the ultimate goal is to better understand the transport mechanisms of sediment, larvae, pollutants and other particles in coral reef settings. This report, the second in a series of three, describes data acquisition, processing and analysis. Other reports provide data and results on: Long-term measurements of currents, temperature, salinity and turbidity off Kahana (PART I), Flow and coral larvae and sediment dynamics during the 2003 summer spawning season (PART III), and Measurements of waves, currents, temperature, salinity and turbidity in Honolua Bay, Northwest Maui: 2003-2004 (PART IV)