Coral Bleaching Thailand

[accurist]

Sad to report severe bleaching at Katoaka Reef, Malangbiru and Tioman off Malaysia last weekend.

 

[Arizona]

What kind of temps were you recording? I'll be out again next weekend at some of the same spots around Sameasan.

 

[Quero]

I just spent two days between Phi Phi and Phuket. The water is cooler. I got 30 on the surface and 28 at 30 meters. The wind is now blowing from the west, as it should this time of year, and the cloud cover and rains have begun at last.

 

[accurist]

Sea temp was 31 to 30 on the reefs.

 

[stevenl]

Which was when and where?

Here from phuket the temperatures are at the moment back again to 29-30, which is the normal temperature.

 

[Arizona]

I think the Accurist was referring to "Katoaka Reef, Malangbiru and Tioman off Malaysia last weekend" with regard to temps. I will most likely be at the Hardeep and Rong Kong (Sameasan/Pattaya area). Hopefully temps have dropped with the rains as well.

 

[Arizona]

This past weekend I dived the Hardeep and Koh Chan. The wreck corals look fine. Temps were 31c at 27m. At Koh Chan it was horrific. Seeing brain coral so bleached is quite sad IMO. Hopefully over the winter things will begin to heal with prolonged cooler water temps. It was 31c where these pics were taken at about 6m.

Koh Chan, June 26, 2010 (coral bleaching)

@Quero, good to see things are better on your side.

 

[Quero]

The water's a little cooler over on this side of Thailand, but it looks like the Gulf and the South China Sea are still quite hot. For those interested, this animated gif map published by NOAA in conjunction with the agency's research into coral bleaching and surface sea temperatures clearly shows the progression of the warming of the water that has led to our widespread coral bleaching episode. The warming apparently began and peaked earlier on the Andaman side than in the Gulf, which seem to still be at the crest of the warming wave. Hope it's over soon so that our corals and other marine life get their algae back and can become healthy again.

 

[BigJeff]

That's an interesting map!

I've been diving in the Phuket area for the last couple of weeks and quite a few corals are now white, but on the up side some are starting to colour again slowly.

White Coral

Getting browner....

Being a little cheeky I'd say the Snake Eels and Nudi's have also been affected

But I'm sure we all know they were white already.

It does allow for some nice contrast, as the Nemo's have not changed.

 

[Bowmouth]

That's an interesting map!

I've been diving in the Phuket area for the last couple of weeks and quite a few corals are now white, but on the up side some are starting to colour again slowly.

Nice pics Jeff. I really like Nemo in the snow...

Glad to see the zooxanthellae are trying their best to get back into the bleached coral.

:uwphotographer: