Coral Reef Recovery at Palmyra Atoll
Coral Reef Recovery at Palmyra Atoll
Posted March 30, 2017As part of the PacIOOS Water Quality Sensor Partnership Program (WQSPP), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PacIOOS to utilize one of the WQSPP water quality sensors at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In 2013, FWS removed a large destructive shipwreck from a nearby reef. Post-removal surveys of coral growth, health, and recolonization have been conducted, but drastic fluctuations in turbidity due to resuspension and occasional temperature elevations have triggered seasonal coral bleaching. The Seabird SEACAT will support this coral reef recovery project by collecting important oceanographic parameters, including temperature, salinity/conductivity, depth, turbidity, and chlorophyll. All data will be managed by FWS and made available through PacIOOS.
