[Coral-List] Allen Coral Atlas - Monitoring User Survey

[Douglas Fenner]

This reminds me that I forgot to comment when the Atlas was released.  I
took a look at the atlas maps for Tutuila, American Samoa, where I have
lived for 16 years.  I found some rather large areas which are highly
likely to be incorrectly scored.  One is a shallow, very murky bay, with a
mud bottom, which is between the airport and the main part of the island.
Not sure how deep the mud is on top of the underlying rock, but it was all
scored as rock.  Another is that the harbor, which is about 200 feet deep,
has a large light blue patch in it, which as best I can tell from the
legend, is supposed to be coral (there are some shades that are pretty hard
to tell apart, I would suggest using colors that are more distinct..  Most
of the time the harbor is pea soup green with about a 10 foot visibility or
less.  Even if it was clear, I can't imagine a satellite photo could see
200 feet deep with any accuracy.  And as far as I know, the bottom of the
harbor is mud that is so soft that multibeam sonar used by NOAA for
surveying could not detect the surface of the bottom, not hard enough to
reflect sound waves.  I was told that by a leader of the NOAA team over 15
yrs ago.  I was told by a technical diver that there is a deep sponge
community somewhere in the harbor, but I don't know where that is.  Also,
an area of mangroves along the shore of that muddy bay (Pala Lagoon) did
not show up in the atlas.
Cheers,  Doug

On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 4:04 AM Sarah Frias-Torres via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Dear Coral-Listers
>
> The Allen Coral Atlas team is beginning its research to inform
> implementation of a monitoring tool that will identify, and alert on,
> potential bleaching events and turbidity/sediment runoff.
>
> We would love the opportunity to collect insights from potential users of
> this tool (you) who may have input on how we approach development of this
> feature.
>
> Whether you're a coral reef scientist, practitioner, or just excited by
> the potential of the Allen Coral Atlas please take this 10 minute survey to
> answer some questions
> about the tools you currently use to identify changing environments, what
> you'd look for in a feature like this on the Atlas, and more.
>
> Those who are interested will also have the option to speak to us directly
> for a more in-depth conversation.
>
> https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5479508/
>
>
> Thank you in advance!
>
>
> <><...<><...<><...
>
> Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
> Twitter: @GrouperDoc
> Science Blog: https://grouperluna.com/
> Art Blog: https://oceanbestiary.com/
>
> _______________________________________________
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>


-- 
Douglas Fenner
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Consultant
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

"Already, more people die  <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml>from
heat-related causes in the U.S. than from all other extreme weather events."


https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths


Even 50-year old climate models correctly predicted global warmng
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/even-50-year-old-climate-models-correctly-predicted-global-warming?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3113276

"Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them will
have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
Science