Data records to help inform impact of ocean warming on coral reefs

In Fiji, the technical team from the SPC (Pacific Community) GEM Division worked with a team from the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development to extract a temperature-monitoring mooring deployed in 2018.

The mooring is a combination of a surface wave buoy, which is a key component of the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project in Fiji and a subsurface array of temperature sensors, which is a component of the Coastal Oceanography in the Pacific, Risk and Adaptation project.

The deployment of this equipment off the Coral Coast provided real-time information about wave conditions and ocean temperatures.

This information is critical to coastal early warning systems and to understanding the impact of ocean warming on coral reefs.

Scientists will now work on the analysis of these data recorded during the last two years representing a unique record of such data in the Pacific Region.

The deployment of the buoy was made possible with financial support from the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac), the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and with personnel from USP, the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and SPC.

For background info: http://bit.ly/39g66Vg