Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary | Mission Iconic Reefs

SUMMER HEAT QUANTIFIED: Mission: Iconic Reefs surveys impact to corals

A team of researchers from NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reefs program and partners from Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and the Coral Restoration Foundation completed a scientific mission February 14, 2024 to quantify the impact of 2023’s marine heat wave on corals in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Data from the research cruise will help NOAA and partners understand the extent of the record-high marine temperatures from the summer of 2023 on both wild and restored corals — which are nursery-raised and out-planted on the reef — and inform future restoration strategies to increase coral resilience.

Media resources from the research cruise are included here:

A diver hovers over the seafloor holding a measuring tape.
Mission: Iconic Reefs field team member Cate Gelston, co-lead scientist on the assessment cruise, retrieves a transect tape after completing an outplant coral health assessment survey. Ben Edmonds/NOAA.
A diver hovers over the seafloor writing on a tablet.
Mission: Iconic Reefs field team member Cate Gelston, co-lead scientist on the assessment cruise, surveys the fate of coral out-plants. Ben Edmonds/NOAA.
Two women huddle over a small electronic device on the deck of a boat.
Mission: Iconic Reefs field team member Cate Gelston, co-lead scientist on the assessment cruise, and Data Manager Grace Hanson, prepare a GPS unit in advance of outplant health assessment surveys. Ben Edmonds/NOAA.
A diver taking a photo of an object on the seafloor with a measuring stick nearby.
Mission: Iconic Reefs field team member Jamie Emm, co-lead scientist on the assessment cruise, takes a photo of Orbicella faveolata corals that were out-planted on the reef. These slow-growing corals fared better than fast-growing acroporids. Ben Edmonds/NOAA.
People on the deck of a boat preparing to dive.
The Mission: Iconic Reefs team spent a week aboard the M/V Makai, conducting survey dives over coral out-plant sites. Ben Edmonds/NOAA.

 

Animation illustrates unprecedented bleaching alerts between May and October 2023.

Animated video that shows warm colors advancing around the southeastern United States.
Credit: Gang Liu, NOAA Coral Reef Watch

MIR Assessment Video

Credit Ben Edmonds/NOAA