An international meeting on coral reef observatories held in southern Taiwan concluded on Friday that a global sensor network for monitoring coral reef ecosystems should be set up to better conserve ocean habitats threatened by global warming.
The Global Coral Reef Environmental Observatory Network (CREON) Integration Meeting was attended by some 60 scientists and engineers from Taiwan, the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Costa Rica.
CREON, an association striving to design and build marine sensor networks, held the meeting with the Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly, an internationally renowned grid community with rich expertise in resources, bioscience, telescience and geoscience.
High-tech sensor networks combine data and information collected through remote satellite measurement, early warning systems and monitoring stations in oceans, allowing researchers to review coral reef ecosystems in real time and in different dimensions such as 3D.
The meeting reviewed the performance of sensor networks deployed in coral reef areas in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Moorea in French Polynesia, and the Houbihu (
A sensor network was deployed in Kenting's coral reef area a few years ago by a research team of Kenting's National Museum of Marine Biology, with the help of CREON. The team has wide experience in coral reef conservation.
Kenting's coral reefs had an average coverage of 40 percent after last year's reef bleaching crisis. Other coral reef areas in Pacific and Indian oceans had coverage of only 20 percent on average after the bleaching crisis.
Other conclusions reached include designating the Houbihu area as a reference resource in conservation, and holding a meeting every year in Kenting to integrate data and information.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS