Image

Hidden Treasure

August 15, 2014

WHOI climate scientist Konrad Hughen and his team located a large Porites lobata coral with the help of local fishermen near the village of Falalis in Micronesia. Hughen’s ship had passed over the colony while heading towards the shore, but the massive coral went undetected. Scientists often ask community leaders for permission to perform research on private reefs, and in turn receive knowledge about features that can go unseen from the surface. Paleoclimate researchers value the Porites lobata coral, as core samples of this species can provide up to 400 years of precise dating and climate records. (Photo by Luis Lamar, Advanced Imaging and Visualization Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)