[A-CG41] Coastal Ecosystems -2. Coral reefs, seagrass and macroalgal beds, and mangroves

[ACG41-P03] Characteristics of water temperature changes and coral breaching in Amitori Bay, Iriomote Island, Japan

*Shinya Shimokawa¹, Tomokazu Murakami¹, Hiroyoshi Kohno², Akira Mizutai² (1.National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, 2.Okinawa Reagional Research Center, Tokai University)

Keywords:Reef building coral, Water temperature, Typhoon

Amitori Bay is located in the northeast region of Iriomote Island, Japan, and is a small bay but has a wide variety of environments with little human impacts and coastal ocean ecosystem such as reef building corals and mangrove forests. We have investigated the relationship between coral distributions and physical variables since 2011. In summer of 2016, a wide area breaching of the corals was caused also in the bay. The changes of water temperature in the bay are considered to have a large effect on the breaching.
In this study, the changes of water temperature in Amitori Bay are investigated from the observational data during 2014-2017. The results showed that no typhoon approached in this area in summer of 2016 caused high water temperature for a long term compared to the other years, and resulting the breaching of the corals. In the presentation, characteristics of seasonal changes of water temperature in Amitori Bay are also stated from the results of data analysis and numerical simulations.

Reference:
Shimokawa, S., T. Murakami and H. Kohno eds. (2020), Geophysical Approach to Marine Coastal Ecology -The Case of Iriomote Island, Japan, Springer, 273 pp.