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Transport of warm, high-salinity water to fringing reefs in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas: implications for coral bleaching

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Date Issued:
1999
Title: Transport of warm, high-salinity water to fringing reefs in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas: implications for coral bleaching.
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Name(s): Pitts, Patrick A.
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Article
Date Issued: 1999
Publisher: American Academy of Underwater Sciences.
Place of Publication: Nahant, MA
Physical Form: pdf
Extent: 12 p.
Language(s): English
Identifier: FA00007051 (IID)
Note(s): Salinity, temperature and current data are used to document transport of warm, hypersaline water from Great Bahama Bank into Exuma Sound through a tidal channel in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas. Data collected from GalliotCut during the,summer of 1998 indicate that water exiting the bank during the latter part of theebb tide can be up to 2 psu higher in salinity and over 2°C warmer than the oligotrophic waters of Exuma Sound (bank salinities reached over 39 psu and temperatures approached 32°C). Most of the reefbuilding stony corals in this region are found in the well-developed fringing reefs over the shelf on the Exuma Sound side of the island chain, and this study documents a mechanism for transporting heat and salt to these reefs which may trigger bleaching.
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution 1314
This manuscript is an author version with the final publication available and may be cited as: Pitts, P. A. (1999). Transport of warm, high-salinity water to fringing reefs in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas: Implications for coral bleaching. In J. N. Heine, D. Canestro & G. Wuttken (Eds.), Diving for science 1999: Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences nineteenth annual Scientific Diving Symposium, November 3-7, 1999, Santa Cruz, California (pp. 91-101). Nahant, MA: American Academy of Underwater Sciences.
Subject(s): Exuma (Bahamas)
Salinity
Coral bleaching
Water temperature
Reefs--Bahamas
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007051
Host Institution: FAU