Circulation and Sediment, Nutrient, Contaminant, and Larval Dynamics on Reefs
The overall objective of this research effort is to better understand how circulation and sediment processes impact coral reefs.
This study is part of the USGS Coral Reef Project.
The Problem
![Underwater view of a breaking wave above a coral reef with fish darting around.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/wave_break_on_spur_Guam.jpg?itok=LrQhsRZ3)
Terrigenous sediment run-off and deposition on coral reefs can significantly impact coral health by blocking light and inhibiting photosynthesis, directly smothering and abrading coral, and triggering increases in macro algae. The delivery of sediment and pollutants to reefs have increased globally as a response to human-induced changes to watersheds, as pointed out in the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. The Status of Coral Reefs of the World (2004) report states that sediment run-off is the major stressor to reefs in Hawaiʻi, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, while the Coral Reefs of the USA (2008) and The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States (2008) reports recognize that sediment run-off is one of the most serious stressors affecting coral reefs not only in the Hawaiian and Mariana Islands, but also those off American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Furthermore, it is the impact from local stressors such as terrestrial sediment, as compared to global climate change, that can be best rectified through local actions by Federal, State, and/or local land managers.
The dominant control on residence time of sediment, nutrient uptake, contaminant exposure, and larval dispersal in coral reef systems is the pattern of flow. Coral reefs are hydrodynamically rough, more than an order of magnitude greater than sandy sea floors. This roughness and the high geomorphic complexity of reefs cause currents to diverge around reef structures, resulting in high horizontal and vertical shear (flow going in different directions at different locations or depths). This can result in either the rapid transport of material in localized jets or the retention of material eddies that form in the lee of reefs; these zones of retention can either be beneficial (coral larval recruitment) or harmful (contaminants) to coral reef ecosystems. The high geomorphic and hydrodynamic complexity and diversity within and between reefs has limited our understanding of the nature of flow and the resulting magnitude and direction of transport of physical, chemical, and biologic material in these fragile ecosystems.
The Approach
The overall objective of this research effort is to better understand how circulation and sediment processes impact coral reefs. Achievement of this objective requires an understanding of the physical parameters driving flow, transport pathways and durations, and coral reef ecosystem processes. The goals of this effort are to:
- determine the patterns of flow over coral reefs that result from different forcing mechanisms such as waves, currents, surface tides, internal tides and those driven by wind, large-scale ocean currents, etc.;
- compare retention times of sediment, nutrients, and contaminants over complex coral reef morphologies with those along more linear coral reef systems;
- identify the circulation pathways by which separated reefs are linked through larval or pollutant transport, and at determine over what time and space scales these pathways occur; and
- evaluate how these processes and linkages will be affected by predicted changes in climate, such as sea-level rise and changes in the frequency and intensity of storms.
The approach to these interdisciplinary studies will rely on a combination of field measurements and physics-based numerical monitoring. We use a wide range of tools to try to answer these questions, including: oceanographic instruments (for example, acoustic Doppler current profilers, wave/tide gauges, temperature sensors, salinity sensors, turbidity sensors, chemical sensors) mounted on the seabed or on moorings, water-column profilers with similar suites of sensors, time-lapse camera systems deployed on land or underwater, GPS-equipped Lagrangian surface drifters, simple and rotary sediment traps, coral and sediment cores, geophysical sub-bottom surveys, and physics-based numerical models.
Below are data releases associated with this study.
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
The use (and misuse) of sediment traps in coral reef environments: Theory, observations, and suggested protocols
Coastal circulation and sediment dynamics in Maunalua Bay, Oahu, Hawaii: Measurements of waves, currents, temperature, salinity, and turbidity: November 2008-February 2009
Terrigenous sediment provenance from geochemical tracers, south Molokai reef flat, Hawaii
Turbidity on the shallow reef off Kaulana and Hakioawa watersheds, north coast of Kaho'olawe, Hawai'i: Measurements of turbidity and ancillary data on winds, waves, precipitation, and stream flow discharge, November 2005 to June 2008
Coral Ba/Ca records of sediment input to the fringing reef of the southshore of Moloka'i, Hawai'i over the last several decades
Coastal Circulation and Sediment Dynamics in War-in-the-Pacific National Historical Park, Guam; measurements of waves, currents, temperature, salinity, and turbidity, June 2007-January 2008
Science-Based Strategies for Sustaining Coral Ecosystems
Sources of land-derived runoff to a coral reef-fringed embayment identified using geochemical tracers in nearshore sediment traps
Sedimentation processes in a coral reef embayment: Hanalei Bay, Kauai
Supply and dispersal of flood sediment from a steep, tropical watershed: Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii, USA
The coral reef of South Moloka'i, Hawai'i— Portrait of a sediment-threatened fringing reef
Coastal circulation and sediment dynamics in Hanalei Bay, Kaua'i. Part IV: Measurements of waves, currents, temperature, salinity, and turbidity: June-September 2006
The overall objective of this research effort is to better understand how circulation and sediment processes impact coral reefs.
This study is part of the USGS Coral Reef Project.
The Problem
![Underwater view of a breaking wave above a coral reef with fish darting around.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/wave_break_on_spur_Guam.jpg?itok=LrQhsRZ3)
Terrigenous sediment run-off and deposition on coral reefs can significantly impact coral health by blocking light and inhibiting photosynthesis, directly smothering and abrading coral, and triggering increases in macro algae. The delivery of sediment and pollutants to reefs have increased globally as a response to human-induced changes to watersheds, as pointed out in the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. The Status of Coral Reefs of the World (2004) report states that sediment run-off is the major stressor to reefs in Hawaiʻi, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, while the Coral Reefs of the USA (2008) and The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States (2008) reports recognize that sediment run-off is one of the most serious stressors affecting coral reefs not only in the Hawaiian and Mariana Islands, but also those off American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Furthermore, it is the impact from local stressors such as terrestrial sediment, as compared to global climate change, that can be best rectified through local actions by Federal, State, and/or local land managers.
The dominant control on residence time of sediment, nutrient uptake, contaminant exposure, and larval dispersal in coral reef systems is the pattern of flow. Coral reefs are hydrodynamically rough, more than an order of magnitude greater than sandy sea floors. This roughness and the high geomorphic complexity of reefs cause currents to diverge around reef structures, resulting in high horizontal and vertical shear (flow going in different directions at different locations or depths). This can result in either the rapid transport of material in localized jets or the retention of material eddies that form in the lee of reefs; these zones of retention can either be beneficial (coral larval recruitment) or harmful (contaminants) to coral reef ecosystems. The high geomorphic and hydrodynamic complexity and diversity within and between reefs has limited our understanding of the nature of flow and the resulting magnitude and direction of transport of physical, chemical, and biologic material in these fragile ecosystems.
The Approach
The overall objective of this research effort is to better understand how circulation and sediment processes impact coral reefs. Achievement of this objective requires an understanding of the physical parameters driving flow, transport pathways and durations, and coral reef ecosystem processes. The goals of this effort are to:
- determine the patterns of flow over coral reefs that result from different forcing mechanisms such as waves, currents, surface tides, internal tides and those driven by wind, large-scale ocean currents, etc.;
- compare retention times of sediment, nutrients, and contaminants over complex coral reef morphologies with those along more linear coral reef systems;
- identify the circulation pathways by which separated reefs are linked through larval or pollutant transport, and at determine over what time and space scales these pathways occur; and
- evaluate how these processes and linkages will be affected by predicted changes in climate, such as sea-level rise and changes in the frequency and intensity of storms.
The approach to these interdisciplinary studies will rely on a combination of field measurements and physics-based numerical monitoring. We use a wide range of tools to try to answer these questions, including: oceanographic instruments (for example, acoustic Doppler current profilers, wave/tide gauges, temperature sensors, salinity sensors, turbidity sensors, chemical sensors) mounted on the seabed or on moorings, water-column profilers with similar suites of sensors, time-lapse camera systems deployed on land or underwater, GPS-equipped Lagrangian surface drifters, simple and rotary sediment traps, coral and sediment cores, geophysical sub-bottom surveys, and physics-based numerical models.
Below are data releases associated with this study.
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.