[Coral-List] Coral bleaching in the western coast of Mexico

[Alan E Strong]

Hi Hector,

What you have witnessed near the mouth of the Sea of Cortes during the 
Feb-March interval we feel is almost certainly bleaching as a result of 
unusually COLD water!! Yes, bleaching has been observed from cold water 
during the later winter months [note: Hoegh-Guldberg et al., Limnol. 
Oceanogr., 50(1): 265– 2005, "Coral bleaching following wintry weather"].

Was this one of your coolest winters of late??

Cheers,
Al Strong

Hector Reyes said the following on 5/8/2008 11:59 AM:
> Dear coral listers, a news flash. From february to april we have witnessed
> a very strong bleaching in the entire southern region of the gulf of
> california and adjacent waters (from 25N to 20N). Pocilloporid corals are
> very damaged, and total coral mortality in some areas surpasses 50%; this
> figure is higher than the one we reported in 1997-98 for the same region,
> after the ENSO. Has anyone else in the western coast of the Americas has
> noticed something similar? Gracias.
>
> Hector Reyes
> UABCS, La Paz
>
>
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> During research on thermal coral bleaching in the western pacific warm
>> pool,
>> I noticed that observations of coral bleaching in that region are very
>> limited in the reefbase.org database. I would like to know if anyone knows
>> of any bleaching episodes not recorded in that database.
>>
>> You can see the location of the warm pool here:
>> http://roskilde.eas.purdue.edu/~ruben/wpwp.jpg
>>
>> If you know of any observations of bleaching in that region, please to
>> submit your data on the form that can be found here:
>> http://roskilde.eas.purdue.edu/~ruben/bleaching_in_WPWP.php
>>
>> Thank you very much for your help, and if you have any questions or
>> remarks
>> please ask me directly,
>>
>> Ruben van Hooidonk
>> Purdue University
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>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>>     
>
>
>   

-- 
**** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* 
Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Senior Consultant
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program
  e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
URL: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov

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