Abstract

NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA is partnering with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre in Belmopan, Belize, CA to expand the Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) monitoring network. CREWS is a network of oceanographic and meteorological monitoring stations situated at coral reef areas around the globe. The monitoring buoys collect near real-time data which are archived at NOAA and made available to the public through the Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP) www.coral.noaa.gov. The data are used to develop ecological forecasts for coral bleaching, hydrodynamic events, and other marine environmental events of interest to stakeholders including environmental managers, researchers, and the public. Funding support from the Caribbean Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction Initiative was secured in 2017 and is being used to install monitoring stations at specified locations throughout the Caribbean. Project activities include: developing a network of hydro-meteorological stations in the region which will contribute to the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Climate Observing System; operating a CREWS monitoring network in the region; generating coastal topographic and bathymetric information; creating a clearinghouse of electronic files of climate change data and information from the Caribbean region; developing evidence-based decision making tools alongside end-users; preparing protocols for the collection of, interpreta-tion and sharing of information. The initiative expands the in situ CREWS monitoring network to improve the understand-ing of changes in marine conditions for informed management and decision making of shared marine resources

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