World’s First Satellite tv for pc-Based mostly Surveillance System Used Globally to Save Coral Reefs – Watts Up With That?
New Allen Coral Atlas tool to aid in coral rescue and restoration
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, CENTER FOR GLOBAL DISCOVERY AND CONSERVATION SCIENCE
Science business announcement
PICTURE: CLOSE UP OF ALLEN CORAL ATLAS PLATFORM SHOWING BLEICHING IN NEW CALEDONIA ON 05/29/21 SHOW MORE CREDIT: ALLEN CORAL ATLAS
The current prognosis for the coral reefs of our world is bleak. With oceans warmer, more polluted and acidic, models predict that 70% to 90% of coral reefs will be lost by 2050. To date, there has been no global system for monitoring coral reefs under the pressures that could cause their death. Now scientists have a tool to monitor global coral reef health and give new hope to conservation efforts.
Today the Allen Coral Atlas released the world’s first satellite-based global real-time monitoring system for coral reef bleaching in real time. Combined with the Atlas reef extent and composition maps, due for completion in July, the entire suite of mapping and monitoring tools in the Allen Coral Atlas monitoring system provides a comprehensive and unprecedented picture of how coral reefs have changed over time and gives scientists that Opportunity to Make Decisions Policy makers and the reef management community need critical information that is urgently needed for swift response and conservation.
“Our ability to monitor changes in coral reef conditions has always been a clear but challenging requirement in making decisions about where to apply our best restoration and conservation strategies,” said Professor Greg Asner, Allen Coral Atlas executive and director of Arizona State University’s (ASU) Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. “The new Atlas Surveillance System is an important step in our quest to see the reef around the world while still providing the exceptional details necessary for progressive reef interventions.”
The satellite eyes on the world’s reefs detect fluctuations in reef brightness using high-resolution satellite imagery powered by an advanced algorithm that indicates whether reefs are under stress or insensitive to ocean heat waves. Researchers, conservationists, policy makers, and others using the surveillance system platform can observe where corals around the world bleach, from no bleach to heavier.
“With this monitoring function, we can for the first time see where and to what extent coral bleaching is likely and where it will not be bleached so that we can identify resilient reefs,” commented Paulina Gerstner, program director for the Allen Coral Atlas. “The system is the result of years of efforts by our ecologists, remote sensing scientists, software developers and many others.”
The ASU Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science successfully tested a beta version of the Atlas monitoring system in Hawaii during the 2019 Pacific Ocean heat wave. The beta version revealed bleach hotspots in the Hawaiian Islands that were not discovered by more traditional field-based methods. This provided a better context for understanding the progression of coral bleaching and helped conduct targeted mitigation efforts to reduce secondary stressors on threatened corals. Studies have shown that corals are more likely to survive if secondary stressors are reduced before, during, and after bleaching events.
The beta version also enabled Asner and his team to identify harder, heat-resistant coral species that can be used for future restoration work on coral reefs. As ocean warming events due to climate change are more likely to occur, the Atlas’s ability to fully capture coral disturbance in real time will play a key role in helping conservationists and policy makers better identify and scale up declining species -Restoration efforts where needed.
“It is important for people to understand that this is only the first global version of our surveillance system. We intend to improve and expand it to include a wider range of reef impacts such as land-to-sea pollutants and sediments, ”Asner said. “This first truly global reef monitoring system is just a drop in the bucket for what is to come.”
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The Allen Coral Atlas, named after the late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, is funded by Vulcan Inc. and directed by Arizona State University. It was developed through a unique partnership between Arizona State University, the University of Queensland, the National Geographic Society, Planet and Vulcan.
For more information, please visit allencoralatlas.org
The Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science (GDCS) at Arizona State University is where big biogeographical ideas meet big technological approaches. Our team of experts conduct spatially explicit scientific and technological research focused on mitigation and adaptation to global environmental changes. By working across the ASU community and with non-governmental organizations, corporations, governments, and conservation science leaders, we aim to create innovative scientific discoveries and outcomes that benefit conservation, resource management, and policy efforts on a global scale.
From EurekAlert!
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