Image

Dot in the Ocean

March 26, 2016

Jarvis Island is an uninhabited island on the equator in the mid-Pacific Ocean. As trade winds push warm surface waters west across the Pacific, the deep Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) transports cool water east. When the EUC hits Jarvis, some of its nutrient-rich waters upwell to the surface, fueling unusually high producitivey that sustains a vibrant coral reef ecosystem. WHOI scientist Anne Cohen investigates how the EUC protects coral reefs around equatorial Pacific islands as the ocean warms and becomes more acidic. Cohen and MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Alice Alpert examined coral skeletons for clues to past and future behavior of the EUC. (Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)