Warming Oceans Threaten Coral Reefs

Posted on February 27, 2015

This month NOAA posted a warning that increasing temperatures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans poses a mortal threat to living coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are one of the most important ecosystems in an ocean. They support 25% of all marine life including thousands of fish species and are a source of food for humans. They are also important to the economic well being of coastal communities that thrive on diving and tourism.

Increased ocean temperatures cause devastating coral bleaching that occurs when algae living in coral tissues become stressed and exit their coral homes. Algae are not only a source of coral’s beautiful colors but also an important nutrient for corals. “Bleaching” occurs when corals become transparent due to the absence of algae.

Mark Eakin, a Coral Reef specialist, is concerned about an upcoming major coral bleaching this summer. He said, "the outlook shows a pattern over the next four months that is similar to what we saw during global coral bleaching events in 1998 and 2010.” NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch coordinator is afraid that warming oceans in 2015 may cause a third global coral bleaching event. Dr. Eakin uses climate modeling, satellite data, and in situ observations to monitor coral reef ecosystems and predict dangerous events like coral bleaching.

CREST Student, Andrea Gomez feels passionate about corals. The main objective of Andrea’s research is to improve our understanding of coral bleaching and how temperature stress affects coral fluorescence and reflectance signatures. This research aims to provide a means for remote sensing to better enable management and conservation agencies to monitor corals and assist with coral reef preservation. Andrea commented that, “by understanding the relationship between temperature stress and its effects on coral fluorescence and reflectance, it could provide another useful tool to improve monitoring of coral health.” Andrea is excited about new satellite products that can help Coral Reef Watch to focus on small reef areas and improve monitoring of coral health

Coral Reef Watch is a part of the NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research and uses NOAA satellite data and in situ tools to monitor environmental conditions that lead to coral deterioration. Recently NOAA Coral Reef Watch released its new Daily 5-km Satellite Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Monitoring Product Suite that will allow for better coral reef monitoring. NOAA encourages all users of the product to provide feedback at coralreefwatch@noaa.gov.