Royal Caribbean's Ocean Fund is partnering with the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI), the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and the Image Group to create a reference site never attempted before where the correlation between climate change and coral reef stress can be measured directly.
This new group is being headed up by Dr. Carrie Manfrino, an Associate Professor of Oceanography at Kean University and CCMIs Director of Research and Conservation.
The study is setting out to determine the exact effect of rising temperatures and sea levels have on the stress coral reefs experience and if it is beyond sustainability.
The hope is the data collected will give scientists a better idea of the immediate effects of the changes on the coral reefs as well as help reef managers understand these threats so that they can more effectively conserve coral reefs and their associated flora and fauna.
