[Coral-List] Mystery Event - Lankayan Island, Sulu Sea Sandakan
Alan E. Strong
Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
Fri Aug 24 08:31:27 EDT 2007
http://mitgcm.org/news/agu_2004/fuckar_et_al.pdf
Note this ASLO/AGU paper by our (Coral Reef Watch) Sea Grant Fellow in
2004...Nevin Fuckar....as a possibly of oceanic heat source transiting
into a reef.
Cheers,
Al
Arthur Webb wrote:
> Gene and others - thanks for your thoughts,
>
> Gene indeed "looking up" as you indicate may be a component of the issue
> in the Maldives due to there geographic location but is highly unlikely
> re the Kiribati phenomena. And for those that don't know these islands
> check Google Earth - 0 23'35.05" N 173 52'39.50"E (Abemama) and 0
> 39'05.54"S 174 20"00.35" E (Nonouti) they're a long way from Asia and
> also "upwind" if you like. (Incidentally, these are excellent high res.
> images and really let you get a feel for these magnificent environments).
>
> Bob, thanks also for your comments which are instructive, again some may
> apply to Maldives event but I'll leave Don to comment further as I have
> no personal experience in the Maldives. However, I don't know that they
> all fit with the Kiribati event. I'm unconvinced with regards to direct
> human disturbance (these Islands must surely be some of the most
> pristine on the planet and these communities among the last on Earth who
> still live in a sustainable balance with their environment). As for
> rainfall and tide, I've spent some 10 years working throughout these
> islands I've seen some of the highest tides on record and heaviest
> rainfall but have never heard or seen a fish kill associated with these
> natural phenomena. Also in terms of the hydrology these floating
> freshwater lens are presumably quite restricted in the depth they can
> penetrate down since the islands are so narrow and most importantly the
> land surface is very low (on average about 1m above high tide) this
> restricts the volume of freshwater which can be "held" irrespective of
> recharge rates as heavy rain simply results in surface ponding and even
> surface runoff in extreme cases. Additionally, I can't help but think
> we should expect to hear stories from the local communities if heavy
> rainfall and / or high tides produced fish kills as these oceanic and
> atmospheric phenomena occur relatively regularly. Otherwise, I can't
> think what could possibly allow the quick release of sufficient volumes
> of anoxic fresh water into the neighboring marine environment which was
> adequate to cause a wide spread (several kilometers of coast) kills on
> these high energy, deep oceanic drop offs?
>
> I guess so far, that leaves the most likely candidates as either an
> unusual deep cold / anoxic upwelling or as John McManus indicates
> perhaps the other way, an unusually warm pool of surface water forming
> around or moving past these islands (I must admit I hadn't thought it
> possible for water to heat to this extent in the deep open ocean
> environment - coral bleaching maybe but how extreme would conditions
> have to be to kill fish in such environments?! - there is obviously no
> routine direct measurement of even basic WQ parameters on these remote
> islands but if I can find time I'll see what information I can pull
> together re the regional weather and surface conditions around Dec '03 -
> perhaps our NOAA friends could help?).
>
> Anyway it's an interesting one,
>
> Thanks to all,
>
> Arthur
>
>
>
>
>
> Gene Shinn wrote:
>
>> Dear Arthur, It just may be that everyone is looking down at the
>> "usual suspects." The cover story in the 2, August 2007 issue of
>> Nature (see 575) describes what is happening above the Maldives. Gene
>>
>>
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--
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Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Senior Consultant
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program
e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
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