Image source: Brain coral. By Daniel Öberg. Unsplash.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch
Resource type:
Monitoring, mapping
Location:
Global
Available language:
English
If you need to translate this resource into another language follow these instructions.
Custodian:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Launched:
2000
Useful for:
Resource managers, scientific researchers, decision makers, in-water monitoring networks
Purpose:
NOAA Coral Reef Watch is the world's only global early-warning system for coral reef ecosystem environmental changes. The system uses remote sensing, modelled, and field data to monitor conditions that can cause coral bleaching, disease, and death and assists users to prepare for and respond to stressors.
Features:
Global and regional daily maps, heat stress gauges, bleaching alert emails, report bleaching form
Information available:
Coral bleaching heat stress products, Sea Surface Temperature, Regional and Single-pixel Virtual Stations, coral bleaching outlooks, coral disease risk, ocean color, laval connectivity, thermal history
Cost and sign-up:
Free to use, no sign-up required
Can data be downloaded?
Yes
Is the tool available offline?
No, it is not available offline
How can I use this resource?
Explore historic data, Explore near real-time data, Explore time series data, Identify threats, Make decisions, Plan monitoring, Share information
Enquiries:
Further information:
Use case example
Rimba is a member of a local community group advocating for the protection of their tropical coral reef. Through an NGO Rimba heard about the Coral Reef Watch Platform and how it can provide past, present, and forecast information about potential stressful conditions for coral targeted to their specific location. Using the platform Rimba discovered that the reef in her local area was facing an extremely hot summer with sea surface temperatures predicted to be well above historical summer averages.
Armed with this science-based evidence Rimba and her group started a community education campaign and approached local government officials, urging them to take pre-emptive action to take pressure off the coral (as well as an aquaculture facility) during this period of heat stress and give them the best chance of survival. This campaign resulted in the local government instituting tighter regulation and monitoring of reef-based activities such as fishing and diving and better enforcement over the summer to prevent additional stress on the reef.
