Hurricanes may be known for causing all sorts of destruction, but a new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science shows they may actually be helping bleached corals recover.
Researchers found strong evidence that high wind speeds during hurricanes and tropical storms cooled surface waters enough to promote rapid and extensive recovery of bleached corals stressed by warming tropical waters.
“While it seems like an unlikely phenomenon at first, hurricanes are able to bring cooler waters
to the surface, closer to where many corals reside and counter the bleaching problem that may be a sign of global warming,” said Derek Manzello, a marine biology and fisheries graduate student and a researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The research, published in the July 2007 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first to highlight the potential benefit of hurricane-induced sea-surface cooling on coral bleaching. Clearly, hurricane cooling isn’t expected to completely negate the effects of climate change on coral reefs, but a well-timed hurricane or hurricanes has the potential to mitigate the negative ecological consequences associated with severe temperature disturbances,” said Marilyn Brandt, a graduate assistant whose previous work inspired Manzello’s study.
Article originally published Summer 2007.
[su_divider]