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.
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