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Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.

Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.
Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.
Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.
Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.
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265350
Taylor, Eric S.
Coral reaction to EUC enter with Jarvis Island.
Illustration
01/12/2016
Coral_EUC-B.jpg
Image Of the Day caption:
Jarvis Island is a tiny dot in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean right on the equator. This uninhabited 1?-square-mile island rises barely 20 feet out of the ocean. But it's an obstacle in the path of the Equatorial Undercurrent, which shunts nutrient-rich waters toward the surface that nourish lush coral reefs on the island's west side. Those reefs suffered severe bleaching in 2016 when an El Ni?o shut down easterly trade winds, raised surface water temperatures across the Pacific, and slowed the Equatorial Undercurrent. WHOI scientist Anne Cohen is investigating the history of El Ni?o-related bleaching and recovery on Jarvis Island and other reefs in the central Pacific.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 2, pg. 49:
Where the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) encounters Jarvis Island, it creates small patches of cool, nutrient-rich water at the surface, which sustain healthy coral reef ecosystems. Coral skeletons record changes in their surrounding water, and therefore could contain records of changes in the EUC.
Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, WHOI Creative
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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