the MApCO2 side of our upcoming operations

AOML currently has multiple research interests related to Saipan, CREWS and MApCO2.  Derek Manzello has provided this background about why he and Ian Enochs will be coming to Saipan to meet with people and conduct site surveys for a possible MApCO2 buoy deployment:

NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program is currently in the process of implementing their National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP). NCRMP calls for sustained monitoring of biological, climate, and socio-economic metrics at all US coral reefs. The end goal is that every four years, based on NCRMP data collection, the Coral Reef Conservation Program will provide a report card to congress on the state of US coral reefs. This report card will replace the previous 'State of the US coral reefs' report some of you may be aware of.

At AOML, we developed and are leading the in situ climate monitoring portion of NCRMP. The NCRMP climate monitoring plan calls for establishment of three sentinel (or class III) sites in the Atlantic and Pacific basins where high-resolution monitoring of climate change variables (mainly temperature and CO2) will be made. Based on the successful installation of the ICON/CREWS pylon in 2011 and our ongoing relationship with local partners, Saipan has been identified as a potential candidate for establishment of one of these sentinel climate monitoring sites.

If Saipan is chosen as one of the three sentinel climate monitoring sites in the Pacific, this would result in the collection of valuable data on the risk and impacts that Saipan's coral reefs face, or are experiencing, from climate change and ocean acidification. One of the ways this information is collected, is the installation of a MApCO2 buoy (see the following website for data from one of the sentinel sites recently established in the Florida Keys: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/Cheeca+Rocks).

Thus, for our trip at the end of April, myself and another colleague, Ian Enochs, would like to do a site survey in Lao Lao Bay to 1) determine if this is a suitable site for deployment of a MApCO2 buoy and 2) identify a location where the buoy could be deployed. After completion of this site survey, we would like to complete a CaCO3 budget survey -- this would involve transect monitoring at six sites within Lao Lao Bay where we would make measurements of corals and bioeroders to estimate current rates of CaCO3 production and loss (methodology from Perry et al. 2012).

In total, this work would require approximately 3-4 days of SCUBA in Lao Lao, assuming 3 tanks per day. We likely could complete our work quicker, but want to be conservative in the estimation of our possible needs.

[posted by Mike J+]