This dataset shows global satellite product displaying the highest thermal stress level on coral reefs during the past seven days; updated daily.
The NOAA Coral Reef Watch daily 5-km satellite Bleaching Alert Area (7-day maximum) product identifies areas where coral bleaching thermal stress currently reaches various pre-defined levels, based on NOAA's satellite sea surface temperature (SST) monitoring. Each pre-defined level (described in the table below) is based on the intensity of the bleaching thermal stress measured by Coral Reef Watch's 5-km Coral Bleaching HotSpot and Degree Heating Week (DHW) products. The 5-km Bleaching Alert Area is a 7-day maximum composite (rather than being a single-day product, as with NOAA Coral Reef Watch's other 5-km satellite products) to account for day-to-day fluctuations in the level of thermal stress monitored in highly-variable coral reef locations.
Sea surface temperature (SST) variability is often high at the 5-km spatial and daily temporal resolutions that may result extensive day-to-day fluctuations between stress levels in highly-variable locations in a single-day-based Bleaching Alert Area product. To consistently and adequately identify potentially harmful thermal stress levels, especially with regard to the impact of accumulated thermal stress for each data grid, the maximum of the single-day Bleaching Alert Areas over the latest consecutive seven days is presented here. The 7-day moving window advances for each daily product update. The data and images are updated daily and dated on the last day of the 7-day period.
Science On a Sphere
