HotSpot Update

Maggie Toscano mtoscano at nesdis.noaa.gov
Fri Sep 24 10:02:07 EDT 1999


HotSpot Notes -- September 23, 1999

This is an update on the past 2 months for the Caribbean.  Please also
see the posting from Ernesto Weil on bleaching around Puerto Rico.


Mid-Summer 1999:

NOAA satellite data indicated "HotSpots" surrounding North Andros Island
in the Bahamas since July 27, expanding to South Andros Island through
July 31.  In early August, South Florida and the Straits, the eastern
Bahamas and the north coast of Cuba showed 1 degree C HotSpots, creating
conditions conducive to coral bleaching.  HotSpots were maintained
between August 9-28 in these areas, with the remainder of the eastern
Caribbean starting to warm up.

Late Summer 1999:

In early September, the south-western corner of Puerto Rico exhibited 1
degree C HotSpots, followed by warming along eastern Hispaniola and the
Lesser Antilles (Leeward and Windward Islands). By September 14, eastern
Nicaragua, along with the north coast of Venezuela, the Netherlands
Antilles, and Trinidad and Tobago had 1 degree HotSpots, with patchy
HotSpots off the coast of Belize. HotSpots dissipated around September
18 from the Bahamas and northern Cuba but remained on the south side of
Cuba, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, with patchy HotSpots along the
Nicaraguan coast.  By September 21, the entire lower Caribbean showed 1
degree C HotsSpot anomalies. 

Our new Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) maps, depicting accumulated heat
stress for the last 90 days 
(http://psbsgi1.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/PSB/EPS/icg/dhw/dhw_new.html)
indicate 1-3 DWH throughout the Caribbean, show concentrations of 4-8
DHW surrounding Andros Island (Bahamas) and the south-west Florida Keys,
and 4-5 DHW along the lesser Antilles (Windward Islands).

Please post your reports on coral bleaching to this site by completing
(as much as possible) the coral bleaching reporting form on our main web
page or by emailing us.

A. E. Strong						M. A. Toscano  
   Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov				mtoscano at nesdis.noaa.gov
   301-763-8102 x170    FAX: 301-763-8108	x188
       http://manati.wwb.noaa.gov/orad
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