Buoys in the blue

Free-diving, WHOI biologist Jesús Pineda checks the line securing two below-surface buoys to his mooring on a coral reef in the Red Sea, in June 2008. The buoys bear Arabic script, identifying them as belonging to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST.) Pineda’s study forms part of a project in collaboration with KAUST to assess the health of corals off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Anchored 23m (69 ft) deep, the mooring carries instruments that will measure variability in temperature and salt content at several depths, and may also reveal underwater “internal waves” that can influence water conditions and food supply around the corals.
(Photo by Paula Peres-Brunius, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)