Tag: corals

The Central Caribbean Marine Institute's Little Cayman Research Centre. Image Credit: CCMI

AOML Oceanographers to Participate in New Summer Lecture Series

This summer, AOML will be diving into a new outreach initiative with the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, a coral reef research organization based in the Cayman Islands. From June through August, NOAA oceanographers from AOML will give a series of talks on various oceanographic topics to the institute’s staff and students participating in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at the institute’s Little Cayman Research Centre (LCRC).

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Gideon Butler of the University of San Diego lays a transect along a reef. Photo credit: Lauren Valentino, NOAA

AOML Marks 13th Trip Aboard Global Reef Expedition Cruise

During the months of March & April, AOML researchers participated in the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation’s Global Reef Expedition cruise which took place in the waters of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Some of the areas explored included the Maldives and the Chagos archipelago, home to the world’s largest Marine Protected Area. Aboard the R/V Golden Shadow and working under the theme “Science Without Borders,” the Global Reef Expedition team researches remote coral reef locations around the globe documenting their health to better understand which factors are crucial to reef resilience. AOML has participated in 12 Global Reef Expedition cruises since June 2012.

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Projected timing in years of the onset of annual severe bleaching for the Florida Reef Tract and the Bahamas at ~11 km resolution. Note that regions in red and orange, such as the Dry Tortugas, are projected to bleach annually starting in the early 2030s, while the more northern stretch of the Florida Keys near Biscayne Bay, are projected to bleach annually in the mid-2040s.

Study Provides Local-scale Projections of Coral Bleaching Over the Next 100 Years

In a new study published April 1 in Global Change Biology, NOAA oceanographers and colleagues have developed a new method to produce high-resolution projections of the range and onset of severe annual coral bleaching for reefs in the Gulf of America and Caribbean

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March Numeric Nutrient Criteria Study Cruise collects data at Fowey Light for the Argo program. Image credit: NOAA

Numeric Nutrient Criteria Study Cruise

AOML scientists conducted a Numeric Nutrient Criteria Study cruise Wednesday and Thursday, March 18-19th in Biscayne Bay off of Broward and Miami-Dade Counties aboard the NOAA R/V Hildebrand. The study provides concurrent water column and coral reef status data for four coral assemblies off of Miami-Dade and Broward County. These results will be employed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to determine numeric nutrient criteria for the coastal waters of Southeast Florida.

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Waterways Program Features the Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs

The latest episode of the educational television series “Waterways” features coral research conducted by NOAA scientists in the Florida Keys. As the global ocean becomes more acidic, NOAA is documenting these changes and their impact on organisms like corals. The first part of the episode entitled “Ocean Acidification & Tortugas Tide Gauge”   features AOML [...]
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Renee Carlton diving in the Solomon Islands as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Khaled bin Sultan's Living Oceans Foundation and AOML's ACCRETE team to obtain baseline ocean acidification related data from remote coral reef locations across the Pacific Ocean. Image credit: Living Oceans Foundation

Living Oceans Foundation Global Reef Expedition

AOML coral scientists Renee Carlton participated in the Living Oceans Foundation Global Reef Expedition to the Solomon Islands from October 27, 2014 through November 25, 2014. Carlton collected seawater carbon dioxide data and coral cores for calcification analysis as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Living Oceans Foundation and AOML to obtain baseline ocean acidification-related data from remote coral reef locations across the Pacific Ocean.

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Bleached colony of Meandrina meandrites at Emerald Reef, Key Biscayne, FL. Image credit: NOAA

The Science Behind Coral Bleaching in the Florida Keys

2014 was a relatively warm summer in South Florida, and local divers noticed the effects of this sustained weather pattern. Below the ocean surface, corals were bleaching. In the month of August, the Coral Bleaching Early Warning Network, jointly supported by Mote Marine Lab and NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, received 34 reports describing paling or partial bleaching and an additional 19 reports indicating significant bleaching. Scientists continue to monitor the impact of this severe bleaching event to determine the extent of coral mortality.

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Coral ecologist Ian Enochs dives in the carbon dioxide bubbles of Maug's coral reefs (credit: Stephani Gordon/Open Boat Films/NOAA)

Volcanic Island of Maug Provides Natural Lab for Ocean Acidification

Maug is a unique natural laboratory that allows us to study how ocean acidification affects coral reef ecosystems. We know of no other area like this in U.S. waters. Increasing carbon dioxide in seawater is a global issue because it makes it harder for animals like corals to build skeletons.

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