Addressing User Demands: Enhancing NOAA Coral Reef Watch’s Satellite Decision Support System for Coral Reef Managers

Erick F. Geiger, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, erick.geiger@noaa.gov (Presenter)
C. Mark Eakin, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, mark.eakin@noaa.gov
Gang Liu, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, gang.liu@noaa.gov
Jacqueline L. De La Cour, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, jacqueline.shapo@noaa.gov
Scott F. Heron, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, scott.heron@noaa.gov
William J. Skirving, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, william.skirving@noaa.gov
Alan E. Strong, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, alan.e.strong@noaa.gov

NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) has provided coral reef managers and scientists with near-real-time global satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) products monitoring thermal stress on coral reefs since 1997. These products predict mass bleaching events, thereby guiding local stakeholders to monitor the response of corals and mitigate human impacts on vulnerable ecosystems. With support from the NASA Applied Sciences Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting program and NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, CRW has developed and implemented next-generation daily global 5-km coral bleaching thermal stress monitoring products using NOAA’s operational 5-km Geostationary-Polar Blended SST Analysis. The new products became available in May 2014 and provided critical guidance to managers and scientists during the 2014-15 bleaching events in the Mariana Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Marshall Islands, and Florida Keys, and ongoing bleaching in the southern Pacific Ocean. Regional products focusing on individual coral reef areas were released in February 2015 and highly embraced by managers and scientists in the field.

Recognizing that temperatures vary across reefs at sub-km scales, CRW hopes to push monitoring products to a 1-km scale. Example pilot regions include the Coral Triangle and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Sub-km scale, VIIRS-only SST data have been tested for CRW’s applications and validated using coastal in-situ observations as part of an ongoing NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System-funded effort. Comparison with the 5-km Blended SST analysis has demonstrated that high-frequency geostationary observations are needed to ensure reliable daily SST analyses at scales near 1 km. We hope to combine VIIRS SST and 2-km Himawari-8 and GOES-R SST to develop regional 1-km blended products. These analyses will help CRW meet managers’ and scientists’ needs for accurate and timely information on thermal stress to coral reefs as the climate warms.

Presentation: 2015_Poster_Geiger_63_184.pdf (1246k)

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 4: Human influence on global ecosystems   (Mon 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Muller-Karger, Frank: A Decision Support System for Ecosystem-Based Management of Tropical Coral Reef Environments ...details

Poster Location ID: 63