Hurricanes 'may save coral reefs'
Derek Manzello, at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and colleagues have shown that hurricanes cool temperatures and may assist coral recovery. Manzello documented the relationship between hurricanes and sea surface temperatures in the Florida Keys archipelago since 1988 and found that, on average, a hurricane will cool sea temperatures by 1.5°C for 10 days. "In relation to coral bleaching, that amount of cooling is pretty significant" -- New Scientist, 2 July
posted by Caspar Henderson at
6:20 am
2 Comments:
So the increase we have seen in hurricanes over the last few years (decades even?) may be the earth system's way of moderating sea surface temperature?
But if it only lasts for 10 days and hurricanes only come in the summer months, is this really that important to reefs?
Yes, it doesn't look very promising, does it?
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