[Coral-List] Lower Florida Keys Bleaching Report

[Mary Vega]

Dear Coral-listers,

I'd like to draw attention to the new high-spatial resolution (5km) thermal stress indices developed by the NOAA Coral Reef Watch program. Currently, the 5km Bleaching Alert levels around the Lower Keys, Florida Keys, are between 1-2. 

Also, the high-spatial resolution (1km) Degree Heating Weeks (DHWs) have been between ~4-10 since early August 2014. 

Below are links to two images from August 25, 2014.

CRW Bleaching Alert: http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/bleaching5km/images_archive/b05kmnn_max_r07d_baa_20140825_florida.gif


1km DHWs:

http://imars.marine.usf.edu/avhrr/husf/custom/1/dhw/florida/2014-08-28-000000


For more information, please visit:

http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/bleaching5km/index.php


http://imars.marine.usf.edu/crw-dss

Best regards,

Maria 

Maria Vega-Rodriguez
PhD Candidate
Institute for Marine Remote Sensing/IMaRS
USF - College of Marine Science
140 7th Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 553-1186 (lab.)
www.mariavega.info
www.imars.usf.edu

 


On Wednesday, August 27, 2014 6:24 AM, Coral Morphologic <coralmorphologic at gmail.com> wrote:
 


This past Friday August 22nd we observed that the Hawk Channel patch reefs
in the Lower Keys are currently undergoing a severe bleaching episode. Most
of the staghorn corals that we saw were severely bleached or actively
dying, though there were a few hardy exceptions. Nearly all of the brain
and massive corals were completely white. All over the reef we observed an
unhealthy mix of cyanobacteria and algae proliferating. The water
temperature was an uncomfortable 89 degrees on the bottom (30'), and 87
degrees at the surface. A short video of the bleached reefs and more in
depth observations can be found on the Coral Morphologic blog at:
http://coralmorphologic.com/b/

Cheers,
Colin

Colin Foord
Co-Founder
Coral Morphologic
Miami, FL
www.coralmorphologic.com
coralmorphologic at gmail.com
_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list