Monday, August 18, 2014
Installation of anodes
On our last visit to the buoy we noticed the chains had started to pitt and the anodes were worn. We have ordered new anodes to be replaced and today we added two 1" shaft anodes to each chain. We plan to add more anodes to the main structure once they arrive.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Warning of mass bleaching of hard corals
Ecological forecast received from NOAA’s Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) warns of mass bleaching of hard corals.
The warning was issued on Wednesday, 2014-Aug-13 as a result of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) recorded at the ICON Reef station in Little Cayman (LCIY2) just offshore from the Central Caribbean Marine Institute.
PALE BUT NOT BLEACHED: Researchers today documented individual colonies with yellow and pale yellow colorations along the inner shelf of Grape Tree Bay (<3m depth) near the CREWS buoy. Early indicator species are the Orbicella (formerly Montastraea) faveolata, O. annularis, and the agariciids. A single colony of Pseudodiploria (formerly Diploria) strigosa with pale coloration was observed adjacent to a colony with normal coloration (see picture). Although individual corals were pale, neither mass bleaching nor whole colony bleaching (i.e. white tissue) were observed.
DARK SPOTS: Individual Siderastrea siderea colonies were mottled or beginning to show signs of dark spots.
It is estimated that 5-10% of the above mentioned species were discolored. All other species observed appeared normal in color. Dive computer temperatures indicated 86°F at Grape Tree Bay.
The warning was issued on Wednesday, 2014-Aug-13 as a result of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) recorded at the ICON Reef station in Little Cayman (LCIY2) just offshore from the Central Caribbean Marine Institute.
PALE BUT NOT BLEACHED: Researchers today documented individual colonies with yellow and pale yellow colorations along the inner shelf of Grape Tree Bay (<3m depth) near the CREWS buoy. Early indicator species are the Orbicella (formerly Montastraea) faveolata, O. annularis, and the agariciids. A single colony of Pseudodiploria (formerly Diploria) strigosa with pale coloration was observed adjacent to a colony with normal coloration (see picture). Although individual corals were pale, neither mass bleaching nor whole colony bleaching (i.e. white tissue) were observed.
DARK SPOTS: Individual Siderastrea siderea colonies were mottled or beginning to show signs of dark spots.
It is estimated that 5-10% of the above mentioned species were discolored. All other species observed appeared normal in color. Dive computer temperatures indicated 86°F at Grape Tree Bay.
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