The Magic of the Marianas and Micronesia

Eric Hochberg

For six weeks in April and May, the coral reefs of the Mariana Islands also supported a cadre of scientists deploying instruments and collecting data as part of NASA’s COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) mission. Using a state-of-the-art sensor—the Portable Remote Imaging Spectrometer (or PRISM)—housed in a Gulfstream-IV airplane, CORAL will provide a new perspective on the function and future of coral reef ecosystems.

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Working Around the Weather

Steve Dollar (UH) diving

The COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) mission just wrapped up its second field campaign—this time in Hawaii—after spending more than a month working around challenging local weather conditions

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Coral Reef Symposium Held on Hawaii

BIOS interns ICRS

The 13th annual International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) convened in Honolulu, Hawaii in June with more than 2,500 scientists, policy makers and managers in attendance from 70 countries.

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NASA Steps Up to Track the Shrinking of Earth’s Coral Reefs

Great Barrier Reef

The COral Reef Airborne Laboratory, known as CORAL, will use a state-of-the-art spectrometer to map reefs in four locations: Hawaii, Palau, the Mariana Islands, and parts of the Great Barrier Reef. These maps will provide a baseline comparison for future surveys. Climate change and the recent widespread coral bleaching events make such a project only more urgent. Read more at Wired.com

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A Reef Scientist Talks About NASA’s CORAL Campaign

Eric Hochberg

Eric Hochberg, the principal investigator for NASA’s COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) campaign, is a research scientist at BIOS. CORAL will survey more of the world’s coral reefs, and in far greater detail, than ever before to measure the condition of these threatened ecosystems.

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A Sky-High Survey of Coral Reefs

A view of a coral reef from the air

NASA has awarded BIOS scientist Eric Hochberg a grant to initiate the COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL). The three-year project will use an instrument mounted within the belly of an airplane to survey reefs around the world

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