Tweet Streams: How Social Media Can Help Keep Tabs on Ocean Health

Researchers are using satellite imagery and data to create the first global, high-resolution map of all coral reefs. The project, known as the Allen Coral Atlas, will help provide a baseline for scientists to monitor bleaching events and other short-term changes, which could lead to devastating changes.

Scientists and conservationists have been pushing for more marine protected areas, regions that restrict human activity to protect marine life. But, they're quickly realizing it’s not about the quantity of mpa’s, but the quality.

After nearly back-to-back coral bleaching events made headlines internationally, there's been an increased awareness around the need to save what's left of the species. The newest strategy being implemented has to do with genetic technology that helps scientists determine via DNA markers which types of coral may be the most weak and the most resilient. “Scientists’ goal right now should be to take the steps necessary to optimize coral species so that each successive generation is more resilient,” explains marine biologist Ruth Gates. Although still early in its debut, this is the goal of genetic technology.

Coral reefs on the brink of near extinction, but the more we know about the reefs themselves, the better chance they have to survive - or so says a group of coral reef specialists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. This group has implemented a 3-D imaging mapping project at the University of Queensland in Australia with the goal of equipping communities with the knowledge needed to help coral reefs survive another major bleaching event.

In the South Indian coast, erosion is leading to disappearing beaches. A study found that this erosion was in part due to man-made structures like a harbor that was built in the late 80s, groynes, and seawalls. These structures were interfering with the natural movement of sand. To fix it, they needed a structure that could block waves but also allow sand movement, the solution? An artificial reef. It was installed and some beaches are already seeing the results.

A coral reef in Indonesia has been partially restored due to the collective efforts of conversation groups, nonprofits, and even a pet food company. They laid structures on the seabed to help stimulate reef growth. Because of their efforts, they have been able to increase coral cover from 5 percent to 55 percent.

As temperatures continue to steadily and consistently rise because of climate change, the warming ocean has become an increasing threat to the livelihoods of those living near any shore. From Hurricane-force winds to rising sea levels that threaten floods, the potential for future storm surges is only becoming more apparent. In an effort to mitigate and potentially minimize loss, scientists from around the world are "fingerprinting" sea level rise by the use of satellites in an attempt to predict which coastal areas are most at risk from these impending storms.

Warming water has led to the collapse of coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean, essential to fisheries, protecting shorelines, and reducing beach erosion and sea-level rise. Marine scientists from Nature Seychelles, as part of an international project to protect and restore the reefs, are promoting varieties of coral that they have found to be resistant to the rise in temperature.

Citizen science initiatives across Europe are using accessible technology to expose toxic emissions that official monitoring misses, triggering institutional responses ranging from increased enforcement to new pollution-control infrastructure.

The Turks and Caicos Reef Fund coral lab houses a living biobank of coral species at risk of being lost to climate change impacts and disease. Researchers collect the corals from the ocean and plan to keep them on land until the oceans are a suitable habitat again.