[Coral-List] Seasonal Bleaching Outlook

[Gene Shinn]

Dear Mark, I was curious about the Bleaching out look. If you click 
on your web site 
http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/bleachingoutlook/index.html 
and enlarge the section between the US and Africa it looks curiously 
like a typical satellite image of African dust crossing the Atlantic, 
including the hot spot near the Canary islands where coral bleaching 
has not been reported. I wonder if the satellite data for temperature 
could be affected (or biased) by presence of aerosols which according 
to many meteorologists shade and cool surface water temperature.  I 
have seen NOAA and NASA reports  stating that dust, and conditions 
related to dust such as wind sheer, is the reason we have had less 
hurricanes since 2005. I wonder if it would be worthwhile for the 
Coral Reef Watch to include an aerosol watch similar to those 
available at other web sites. It would be good to have it all in one 
place for the coral community to see. Gene

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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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