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BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 65(1): 201-214, 1999 CORAL REEF PAPER

SUBSURFACE SEAWATER TEMPERATURE VARIATION AND THE

RECOVERY OF CORALS FROM THE 1993 CORAL BLEACHING

EVENT IN WATERS OFF ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Norman J. Quinn and Barbara 1. Kojis

ABSTRACT
In October 1993, a minor coral bleaching event, restricted primarily to colonies of
Montastraea annularis, occurred on reefs of the United States Virgin Islands (US VI}, A
comparison of subsurface water temperatures between 1993 and 1992 (when bleaching
did not occurred) revealed that the mean annual water temperature was higher in 1993,
but the number of hours when the temperature exceeded 29, 1°C was less, To determine
the rate and extent of recovery of bleached Montastraea, colonies on Saba Island off St
Thomas, USVI, were tagged and photographed at regular intervals, Recovery of pigmen­
tation had commenced by December 1993, two months after bleaching was first ob­
served, Partial mortality of some colonies was first visible at the next sampling period
two months later. Six months after bleaching commenced only 50% of colonies had fully
recovered and II months after the bleaching event all colonies had normal pigmentation
and no entire colonies had died, This study suggests that long term, in situ, high resolu­
tion seawater temperature data sets are important in assessing environmental changes
that may alter coral reef communities,

The recarding of sea surface temperature (SST), traditionally defined as the tempera­
ture recorded in the upper 3 m of water (Atwood et al., 1992), has a long history because
it is easy to measure, This is not true of subsurface sea water temperature (S3T), although
long-term, high resolution S3T temperature data sets are considered essential in deter­
mining the cause of coral bleaching (Cook et al., 1990; Dennis and Wicklund, 1994;
Glynn, 1991; 1993; Gareau, 1990; Williams et al., 1987; Williams and Bunkley-Will­
iams, 1990a).
Historically, efforts to correlate biological and environmental changes were attempted
without an adequate in situ temperature data set. It was common for studies to include
data where the sea temperature measurements were ", ..limited to a few periods during
which resident personnel were engaged in off island sites,,," (Lang et al., 1988). In studies
that included regular recording of sea temperature, details were seldom provided about
when (Gates, 1990) or how the temperature was measured (Lang et al., 1988; Brown and
Suharsono, 1990; Goreau et al., 1993). In a study by Fitt et aL (1993) water-temperature
data recorded at a depth of 2 m from a location about 100 km south of a study reef was
used to make inferences about coral colonies at 10-15 m, While there may be a high
positive correlation between deep and shallow water (Dennis and Wicklund, 1994), the
correlation cannot be assumed, particularly when there is a large spatial separation be­
tween the sites. Newell and Quinn (pers. comm.) have observed S3T variation exceeding
0.5°C within 10 km in open waters. The rigor observed in recording biological observa­
tions is commonly ignored by biologists in making and reporting oceanographic observa­
tions. The lack of high resolution S3T data sets and the lack of understanding of daily and
monthly temperature variations has resulted in studies such as the laboratory experiment
where corals are subjected to varjous levels of near constant temperatures (±0.04 to
±0.08°C) for 10 wks to determine if high temperature stress causes coral mortality (Glynn

201
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BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 6;(1): 201-214,1999 CORAL REEF PAPER

SUBSURFACE SEAWATER TEMPERATURE VARIATION AND THE

RECOVERY OF CORALS FROM THE 1993 CORAL BLEACHING

EVENT IN WATERS OFF ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Norman J Quinn and Barbara L. Kojis

ABSTRACT
In October 1993, a minor coral bleaching event, restricted primarily to colonies of
Montastraea annular!s, occurred on reefs of the United States Virgin Islands (US VI}, A
comparison of subsurface water temperatures between 1993 and 1992 (when bleaching
did not occurred) revealed that the mean annual water temperature was higher in 1993,
but the number of hours when the temperature exceeded 29, I°C was less, To determine
the rate and extent of recovery of bleached Montastraea, colonies on Saba Island off St.
Thomas, USVI, were tagged and photographed at regular intervals, Recovery of pigmen­
tation had commenced by December 1993, two months after bleaching was first ob­
served. Partial mortality of some colonies was first visible at the next sampling period
two months later. Six months after bleaching commenced only 50% of colonies had fully
recovered and II months after the bleaGhing event all colonies had normal pigmentation
and no entire colonies had died. This study suggests that long term, in situ, high resolu­
tion seawater temperature data sets are important in assessing environmental changes
that may alter coral reef communities.

The recording of sea surface temperature (SST), traditionally defined as the tempera­
ture recorded in the upper 3 m of water (Atwood et al., 1992), has a long history because
it is easy to measure. This is not true of subsurface sea water temperature (S3T), although
long-term, high resolution S3T temperature data sets are considered essential in deter­
mining the cause of coral bleaching (Cook et al., 1990; Dennis and Wicklund, 1994;
Glynn, 1991; 1993; Goreau, 1990; Williams et al., 1987; Williams and Bunkley-Will­
iams, 1990a).
Historically, efforts to correlate biological and environmental changes were attempted
without an adequate in situ temperature data set. It was common for studies to include
data where the sea temperature measurements were "...limited to a few periods during
which resident personnel were engaged in off island sites..." (Lang et al., 1988). In studies
that included regular recording of sea temperature, details were seldom provided about
when (Gates, 1990) or how the temperature was measured (Lang et al., 1988; Brown and
Suharsono, 1990; Goreau et al., 1993). In a study by Fitt et al. (1993) water-temperature
data recorded at a depth of 2 m from a location about 100 km south of a study reef was
used to make inferences about coral colonies at 10-15 m. While there may be a high
positive correlation between deep and shallow water (Dennis and Wicklund, 1994), the
correlation cannot be assumed, particularly when there is a large spatial separation be­
tween the sites. Newell and Quinn (pers. comm.) have observed S3T variation exceeding
O.SOC within 10 km in open waters. The rigor observed in recording biological observa­
tions is commonly ignored by biologists in making and reporting oceanographic observa­
tions. The lack of high resolution S3T data sets and the lack ofunderstanding of daily and
monthly temperature variations has resulted in studies such as the laboratory experiment
where corals are subjected to varjous levels of near constant temperatures (±O.04 to
±O.08°C) for 10 wks to determine if high temperature stress causes coral mortality (Glynn

201