Red Sea coral reefs
One of the most significant phenomena is coral bleaching. The coral become stressed by rising temperatures, and expel the photosynthetic microalgae that live in symbiosis with them and are responsible for their particular colouring. Major coral bleaching events hit the islands of the Seychelles and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean in 1998 and the Great Barrier Australian Reef in 2002, and were due to unusual warm weather patterns (El Niņo).
As the satellite images show, the coral have an extremely complex morphological structure, with a high fractal dimension. This complexity appears to be associated with the growth of the reefs, and is considered as one of the parameters indicating their state of health and ability to host animal biodiversity.
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image:
These images taken by the Quick Bird satellite show some particularly
jagged stretches of the coral reefs along the northern coast of Saudi Arabia
jagged stretches of the coral reefs along the northern coast of Saudi Arabia
Download
image:
These images taken by the Quick Bird satellite show some particularly
jagged stretches of the coral reefs along the northern coast of Saudi Arabia
jagged stretches of the coral reefs along the northern coast of Saudi Arabia
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