The Relationship Between Environmental Factors and Coral Bleaching at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas in 1990
Dennis G and Wicklund R. 1994. The Relationship Between Environmental Factors and Coral Bleaching at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas in 1990. Pages 167 - 173. In Dennis G and Wicklund R (ed): Proceedings of the Colloquium on Global Aspects of Coral Reefs: Health, Hazards and History. 10 -11 June, 1993. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. Miami, FL
Following the Caribbean-wide bleaching event of 1987 we instituted monitoring of environmental factors that might contribute to stress on coral reefs at our marine laboratory in the Bahamas. Once again in 1990 extensive bleaching occurred from shallow water to 33 m. Elevated water temperatures were closely associated with the start of this bleaching. Periods of calm wind with little rain and high insolation in the summer preceded these elevated water temperatures. The extensive nature of the bleaching in 1990 may be attributable to the long duration of elevated temperatures, atypical for this site. Density cascading of warm hypersaline water on to the shelf in the summer may be an additional stress on deeper reefs at this location.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Dennis, George; Wicklund, Robert
- Units
- SFCN
- Keywords
- Caribbean Marine Research Center, Death, die off, Disease, Greenhouse Effect, temperature changes