For the past eight years, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation conducted a large-scale scientific research mission called the Global Reef Expedition (GRE). The primary goals of the GRE were to map and characterize coral reef ecosystems, identify their
Today, most of the research scientists disembarked the M/Y Golden Shadow at the conclusion of a very successful research project in St. Kitts and Nevis. As they walked down the pier, we welcomed 23 students and 4 chaperones from St.
Over the last ten days we were fortunate to have excellent weather and a hard working research team. We completed surveys of representative reefs around both islands, hitting nearly every location we had planned. Throughout this series of blogs, I
As the Living Oceans Foundation circumnavigates the globe, one of our core activities is rapid assessments of the health and resilience of coral reefs. Our assessments tell us about the diversity and population structure of corals and fishes, the types
While our daily dives may sound calm and cheery all of the time, foul weather and scientific diving in strong currents with heavy equipment can make it challenging to even get off the Golden Shadow onto the dive boat and
Our morning dive at Sandy Point was like travelling through time, with glimpses of the past and a foreshadowing of future directions of Caribbean reefs growth visible simultaneously. Built on a foundation of 200-500 year old corals, many over 5
Afternoon Dive A major component of our work during the Global Reef Expedition focuses on understanding factors and processes that enhance the resilience of coral reefs (reef resilience). We evaluate a number of ecological, physical and chemical parameters at each reef
Our research team headed south for today’s dives, surveying two reefs off the southwestern end of Nevis and one off the northwestern end. The first site, Caverns, was a raised terrace with large volcanic boulders at its margin and a
Our morning dives were located at Monkey Shoals, a submerged bank that lies about 3 miles offshore between St. Kitts and Nevis and west of the Narrows. The reef structure is reminiscent of a Pacific atoll, without the typical emergent
We began our research dives with two spots on the Atlantic side of the St. Kitts and Nevis coral reefs, seaward of the narrows in a reef system known as Grid Iron. This shallow reef stretches over 10 km from
