Bleaching Alert - Scott Reef

[Luke Smith]

Coral Listers

In response to Al Strong's bleaching alert, below is the latest bleaching
information from north Western Australia

Ashmore Reef

An Australian Customs Vessel is permanently based at Ashmore Reef. I have
spoken to the officers there, and after snorkeling at a number of locations
they cannot see any signs of bleaching at all. While they are generally
unfamiliar with coral reefs, I have sent them a number of photographs and a
report to indicate what to look for. Looking at the NOAA data it does
surprise me that there is not a relatively severe bleaching there. We have
two temperature loggers in the lagoon at Ashmore Reef which we will exchange
during an extensive survey we have planned for April.

Scott Reef

Scott Reef is very isolated reef, with few visitors. There is no one
currently at Scott Reef. We have asked Coastwatch (border patrol), who
frequently fly over Scott Reef to report back if they note anything unusual
(eg. a white reef). As of yet we have not received any reports back. Nine
temperature loggers are currently located in and around Scott Reef. I would
be surprised if the reef is not bleached at the moment.

We currently have a field trip to Scott Reef planned for March to survey
monitoring sites, census tagged juvenile and adult corals, assess coral
recruitment and exchange our temperature loggers.

To see a brief report on the recovery (or non-recovery) of Scott Reef coral
communities since the 1998 bleaching and potential reasons why there has
been no recovery, see:

Page 6 of the document
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/coral-bleaching/scr2002/pdf/scr2002-01.pdf

Obviously, more bleaching events at Scott Reef will further delay any
recovery of the coral communities at Scott Reef to their pre-1998 coverage
and diversity.

For people who have no idea where Ashmore and Scott Reefs are, see:

http://www.auslig.gov.au/facts/images/ashmap_large.jpg

Cheers

Luke

Luke Smith
Experimental Scientist
Exploring and Maintaining Marine Biodiversity
Australian Institute of Marine Science
PO BOX 83
Fremantle
Western Australia               6959

Ph      (08) 9 433 4440
Fax     (08) 9 433 4443
l.smith at aims.gov.au

At 04:26 PM 17/01/2003 -0500, you wrote:
Bleaching Alert - 14.02S, 121.85E - Scott Reef
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scott Reef off the northwest shelf of Australia was one of the hardest
hit reefs during the 1998 bleaching event, with reports of bleaching as
deep as 30 meters.

In our collaborations with the Australian Institute of Marine Science we

note that due to a significant SST anomaly off the NW Australia, Scott
Reef is once again (interestingly again during an El Nino) experiencing
potentially high stress due to very hot water.

It has currently accumulated 8.4 DHW (Degree Heating Weeks, see
http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/dhw_news.html).  This
compares to 8 DHW for 1998.  The big difference this year is that
the apparent center of the SST anomaly causing this severe thermal
stress is to the NW of Scott as opposed to the W and SW in 1998,
also the 2003 SST anomaly is significantly cooler, but obviously closer
to Scott Reef.  This may imply that the accumulated heat is shallower
than in 1998, but this can be only speculation at this stage.

A more troublesome aspect of this anomaly is that it is very close to
Ashmore Reef (approx. 10 km to the northeast) which is currently
experiencing a DHW of more than 8.  This compares to a maximum
DHW of 6.5 for 1998.

We expect that there has been significant bleaching on both reefs
to date.

AIMS plans a research cruise to Scott Reef mid-March 2003.

NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Team
--
**** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< *******
Alan E. Strong
Team Leader, Marine Applications Science Team (MAST)
Coral Reef Watch Project Coordinator
Phys Scientist/Oceanographer
  NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3
  NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W
  5200 Auth Road
  Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304
        Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
             301-763-8102 x170
              FAX: 301-763-8572
  http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad

Luke Smith
Experimental Scientist
Exploring and Maintaining Marine Biodiversity
Australian Institute of Marine Science
PO BOX 83
Fremantle
Western Australia               6959

Ph      (08) 9 433 4440
Fax     (08) 9 433 4443
l.smith at aims.gov.au ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing
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