At a small island north of Guam in the Pacific Ocean there is a new early warning system for corals. The system is based on sensors that monitor the neighboring environment of the corals for air and sea temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure and light levels.
The data from the sensor warning system is sent back to researchers to warn them if conditions can trigger a bleaching event. A bleaching event is when high temperatures or acidic levels in the water make the colorful algae in the coral exit.
This leaves the coral bereft of color and looking like a white skeleton. The Coral Reef Conservation Program seeks to prevent this from happening. The researchers who get the early warning can make an intervention to safeguard the coral reef from bleaching.
The system being employed in the Northern Mariana Islands was built and deployed by a team led by Dr Jim Hendee. He is a coral expert with NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meterological Laboratory in Miami.
Hendee said this particular installation has been through several years of planning and logistics and he was proud of the dedicated team of scientists and engineers who brought it to fruition. He added this station would expand NOAA's conservation efforts in the Pacific and provide environmental managers with the data they need to understand the region's coastal and coral reef ecosystem dynamics.