coral reefs - NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

Key Study Demonstrates Buffering of Some Florida Reefs Against Ocean Acidification

AOML Communications — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:30:29 +0000

A groundbreaking new study spanning more than a decade and hundreds of miles of the Florida Coral Reef demonstrates the key role benthic communities play in reducing the impacts of climate change on coral reef ecosystems, specifically Ocean Acidification.

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NOAA Scientists Return to Cheeca Rocks, Find Reef Completely Bleached

AOML Communications — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:29:14 +0000

The growing concerns of coral bleaching due to the ongoing marine heatwave across South Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the greater Caribbean led scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Lab (AOML) to return to Cheeca Rocks on July 31st and August 1st, 2023.

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Port of Miami Corals Remarkably Persistent

AOML Communications — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 01:03:33 +0000

The Port of Miami is a bustling waterway with large cruise and cargo ships, ferries, fishing vessels, and recreational boats. As it turns out, this waterway is also home to a thriving coral community.

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AOML receives coral tree, expanding research capabilities

AOML Communications — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 16:48:17 +0000

In collaboration with the Lirman Lab at the University of Miami (UM), NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory’s (AOML) Coral Program now has its own coral nursery tree!

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Meta-analysis finds key bacteria linked to stony coral disease outbreak

AOML Communications — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 15:09:39 +0000

Using a crowdsourcing approach to gather both published and unpublished data, scientists have determined the global bacteria patterns associated with deadly stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD).

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Four decades of coral research lead to an exciting discovery for tropical pacific corals

AOML Communications — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:32:40 +0000

A heat-tolerant algae found in some tropical Pacific corals can make reefs more resilient to heatwave events, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers with University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (UM-CIMAS) and NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) examined four decades of temperature, coral cover, bleaching, mortality data from three mass bleaching events, and symbiont community data from the last two, to find that a symbiont algae helped corals better tolerate heat stress, increasing their resilience to warming ocean temperatures.

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Experts Learn from Coral Disease Outbreak

AOML Communications — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 19:41:14 +0000

When white lesions began appearing at the famously intact Flower Garden Banks coral reef system, scientists knew a rapid, multi-agency, collaborative response was vital. Scientists from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) recently co-authored a publication about rapid tissue loss on the three dominant coral species at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, observed during National Coral Reef Monitoring Program cruises in the fall of 2022.

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Scientists participate in Ocean Acidification Annual Community Meetings in San Diego, California

AOML Communications — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:25:42 +0000

Scientists from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), and our cooperative institute partners, the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies and the Northern Gulf Institute, recently participated in Ocean Acidification Annual Community Meetings at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California. Over the course of multiple days, scientists attended various meetings on ocean acidification research topics, visited laboratories, met with fellow scientists, learned about new ocean acidification technologies, and much more.

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New study establishes monitoring framework for evaluating reef persistence under climate change and ocean acidification

AOML Communications — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 14:18:41 +0000

Coral scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and University of Miami Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Science (CIMAS) developed a new modeling approach, for evaluating coral reef persistence under climate change scenarios. Aiming to improve coral restoration efforts, this new user-friendly framework has been created as a helpful tool for coral reef scientists and managers to address the increasing vulnerability of these vital ecosystems.

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New study finds that seventy percent of Florida’s coral reefs are eroding

AOML Communications — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 20:18:19 +0000

A group of scientists from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies have found that 70 percent of Florida’s coral reefs are experiencing a net loss of reef habitat.

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