Coral reefs are necessities for millions of animals and plant species that we rely on for food.  Coral reefs are important to our future because they are one of the earth's most diverse living ecosystems, they are full of new and undiscovered biomedical resources and they are protection for coastal communities from storms, wave damage and erosion.  Coral reefs also attract hundreds of thousands of divers, snorkelers, and other tourists to tropical coasts every year.  This recreation and travel supports a significant tourism industry dependent on clean water and healthy coral reefs.  Corals live on the upper edge of their temperature tolerance.  Abnormally high water temperatures combined with low winds and still water can cause destructive bleaching of coral reefs. NOAA monitors this threat with satellite-derived Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Ocean Surface Winds, HotSpots (regions of very high SST), Degree Heating Weeks (accumulations of HotSpots), and on-site buoys

This page was created by Tyre Patterson, a NOAA intern,July 2000