Recently, we
told you about the Caribbean's
"unprecedented coral die-off." According to National Geographic, an estimated 90%
of the coral reef around the USVI, for example, is suffering from bleaching, as a result of record-high water
temperatures in 2005. Sadly, corals throughout the region -- including some 800-year-old chunks and others in very
deep waters -- are ghostly white. This news does not bode well for these important components of our oceans.
(Bleaching occurs when the tiny plants (zooxanthellae) living in coral tissue -- which provide
corals with their food -- become inactive are ejected by the corals due to high temperatures. Coral
reefs do not (immediately) die when bleaching occurs. If the warm water temperatures are only temporary, the zooxanthellae will rebound and again provide food for the
corals. However, if the zooxanthellae continue to be inactive, then the coral’s food source is gone, which can
lead to their death. Amazingly -- and happily -- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita cooled the waters in the Gulf of
Mexico, which means that some of the corals that should've suffered from bleaching this year were spared. This is the
same thing Cyclone
Larry did for some of Australia's coral.)
According to Mark Eakin, who coordinates NOAA's Coral Reef Watch satellite monitoring program, coral reefs in the Caribbean experienced more heat stress in 2005 than the past 20 years combined. The only bright spot in all this is that the Coral Reef Watch's satellite monitoring program has made some interesting data available online. Used in conjunction with Google Earth, the data can be used to view NOAA's bleaching monitoring images in near-real-time. in other words, you can watch coral bleach almost as it happens...which is as exciting as it is sad.
[The Goole Earth tip Via Computers, Society, and Nature]
1. An FYI.. you can get the same in NASA World Wind as well. They have an add-on to do the same here: http://alteviltech.com/blog/2006/04/10/noaa-reef-watch-add-on/
Posted at 1:55PM on Apr 12th 2006 by Chad