[Coral-List] Coral Reef Watch Observations & Outlooks for the Caribbean now available through CariCOF

[Mark Eakin]

CariCOF, the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum, is part of the Caribbean Regional Climate Centre effort under the World Meteorological Organization. Climate change and increasing climate variability are having adverse effects on climate sensitive socio-economic sectors on Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These impacts are expected to grow in the future if appropriate cost-effective adaptation strategies are not implemented. Adapting to climate change and increasing variability requires that the best information on past, current and future climate be available to support decision-making in the Caribbean. The goal of the Caribbean RCC is to support the region’s socio-economic development by generating suites of user defined climate products and services to inform risk-based decision-making in climate sensitive sectors at the national and regional levels across the Caribbean.

Interest in sectoral applications of climate information in the region has led the CariCOF to expand into areas such as agriculture. Now, in their first effort to provide climate-scale data for marine sectoral applications, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch is providing data that CariCOF is using to produce a monthly bulletin with observations and outlooks for the thermal stress that causes coral bleaching. This is especially important with the ongoing 2014-? bleaching event that is expected to soon move into the western Atlantic basin. 

You can find these new bulletins under the “Climate Bulletins” product tab at: http://rcc.cimh.edu.bb

Cheers,
Mark

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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

NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP)
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Office: (301) 683-3320     Fax: (301) 683-3301
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"A world without coral reefs is unimaginable." 
NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, March 25 2010