Nearshore bleaching photos - Fiji

[Andy Hipkiss]

James,

Another non-technical viewpoint ... but my divemaster whilst in the Maldives
"drift diving", noted that in '98, what WAS a drift dive in previous years
became the hardest drifting he'd ever done!

Even at 30m he was getting little flow and temperatures of 30-31C.  The
question is, did the temperature cause the shift in flow patterns or vice
versa?

I mention this in relation to your centre out bleaching photo ... the inner
areas of the colony would be even more affected by decreased flow than the
outer margins I would presume.

Cheers
Andy
--
http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:owner-coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov]On Behalf Of James Wiseman
Sent: 17 May 2001 16:52
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Nearshore bleaching photos - Fiji


Ladies and gentlemen,

I have posted some photos of nearshore bleaching from a recent trip to Fiji.
I decided to post them to a webpage yesterday as I think they are worth
discussing as part of this recent "Factors in coral bleaching - nearshore
vs. offshore reefs" discussion.

The website (It is NOT commercial) shows ONLY the pictures and location map
and some of my comments (temperature, some observations, etc).  Here is the
URL:

http://www.reefhabilitation.com/fiji/bleaching/index.htm


Of particular interest to me are some of the photos showing "unusual"
bleaching patterns.  Any feedback on these is much appreciated - as I would
like to better understand coral bleaching.

For example:
Photo 1596 shows an Acropora sp. bleaching from the center out.  Why is
this?

~~~~~~~
For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
digests, please visit www.coral.noaa.gov, click on Popular on the
menu bar, then click on Coral-List Listserver.