[Coral-List] Potential for Southern Caribbean Bleaching

[Mark Eakin - NOAA Federal]

Fortunately, temperatures have cooled off around Florida and we hope the
current warming around Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will be as brief
as our outlook product forecasts it to be.

However, our Seasonal Bleaching Outlook is currently indicating there may
be an accumulation of thermal stress capable of causing bleaching in the
southern Caribbean:

http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/bleachingoutlook_cfs/outlook_cfs_caribbean.php
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__coralreefwatch.noaa.gov_satellite_bleachingoutlook-5Fcfs_outlook-5Fcfs.php&d=AAIF-g&c=7MSSWy9Bs2yocjNQzurxOQ&r=mxnjGj1-K1cYCH-JH1g-7Q&m=cgI_1lo6Rw6WvRUH0dQnLR4UIl6Cm8e1iuEiAeakli8&s=Nt1fb0U2oaJLgqh3WvPEylL1j_3fpX-ILhRkjf6okgY&e=>

The areas most likely to be hit are bounded by St. Vincent and the
Grenadines down to Trinidad and Tobago on the east and across the offshore
islands of Venezuela. Some risk also extends across Bonaire, Curacao, and
Aruba. This area is under a Bleaching Watch now and the models suggest that
thermal stress will build until early December.

Please send all bleaching observations to coralreefwatch at noaa.gov and/or
the NOAA/ReefBase collaborative online bleaching report  form:
http://www.reefbase.org/contribute/bleachingreport.aspx. Your bleaching
observations (including observations of no bleaching) are greatly
appreciated. Should you have any questions or feedback on our Coral Reef
Watch products, please send an e-mail to coralreefwatch at noaa.gov.

We encourage you to watch our new 5-km products for the Coral Triangle and
Pacific at:

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

We plan to have our new 5-km Regional Gauges operating for all of these
areas by the end of 2014. Watch
http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/regions/index.php for expansion to your area..


Cheers,

Mark


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C. Mark Eakin, Ph.D.

Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Center for Satellite Applications and Research

Satellite Oceanography & Climate Division

e-mail: mark.eakin at noaa.gov

url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov


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