From August 19 to September 2, 2018, FSUCML's Dr. Sandra Brooke is part of a research expedition sailing on the R/V Atlantis (Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.) with the submersible ALVIN. The cruise is led by Erik Cordes (Temple University) and includes participants from several universities, the US Geological Survey, NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as well as media representatives. The cruise will collect critical baseline data on deep-water coral, canyons and cold seep habitats offshore the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern US, to inform management and conservation of these sensitive deep-water ecosystems. At the link below, follow this expedition with daily mission logs and amazing pictures taken from ALVIN’s eyes on the seafloor.
Corals in the Arctic???
Unlike shallow corals reefs, which are restricted to warm clear waters, deep or cold-water corals are found in almost all the world’s oceans. In the Atlantic, the most abundant cold-water reef-building coral is Lophelia pertusa, a branching stony coral that can form structures over a hundred meters tall and several kilometers long. Some of the largest and most stunning of these ecosystems occur in the frigid waters off the coast of Norway, as far north as the Arctic Circle. So yes, there are indeed corals in the Arctic!