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Keeping Watch On Coral Reefs
Student Worksheet
Two conditions that have been linked to coral bleaching are water temperatures that exceed 30°C and little or no surface wind. Your assignment is to use satellite data to investigate whether these conditions have occurred during the past week at three coral reef areas. These reefs are:
- Sombrero Reef in the Florida Keys, located at 25.00°N, 81.52°W;
- Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas, located at 23.51°N 76.51°W;
- Glover’s Reef, in Belize, located near 16.57°N, 87.93°W.
I. Follow these steps to obtain the necessary information about sea surface temperatures (SST):
1. Go to http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/interface/interface.html
2. Build your Query:
In the “View Results as” window, select “As Images”
In the “Select a Region” window, select “Caribbean” or “Gulf of Mexico”
In the “Select Product” window, select “Sea Surface Temperature”
In the Sensor Select window, select all of the options
In the Satellite window, select all of the options (NOTE: Select all of the options for sensors and satellites because you may not be sure which systems are operating during the dates of interest. This search will retrieve all available images for the dates you specify, so you can select the ones that are most useful.)
In the From and To date windows, enter the dates that correspond to the past week.
3. Click on “Search”
4. Select imagery for each of the three reefs, and determine the sea surface temperature (SST).
II. Follow these steps to obtain the necessary information about surface winds data
1. Go to http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/interface/interface.html
2. Build your Query:
In the “View Results as” window, select “As Images”
In the “Select a Region” window, select “Caribbean” or “Gulf of Mexico”
In the “Select Product” window, select “Surface Winds”
In the Sensor Select window, select all of the options
In the Satellite window, select all of the options
In the From and To date windows, enter the dates enter the dates that correspond to the past week.
3. Click on “Search”
4. Select imagery for each of the three reefs, and determine the surface winds.
