The NOAA Reef Watch Add-On is a stethoscope for the oceans. What you will experience is near-real-time data. This ability to monitor remote reef areas via remote sensing satellites has become a key tool coral reef managers and scientists. Now you can see the big picture of our oceans conditions with the data being updated twice every week.
Here are some screen shots of the add-on in action:
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The Current HotSpots layer highlight SST anomalies that are one degree greater than the SST maximum monthly climatology, meaning the SST is one degree greater than the maximum expected summer time temperature.
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Degree Heating Weeks indicate the accumulation of thermal stress that coral reefs have experienced over the past 12 weeks. One DHW is equivalent to one week of sea surface temperatures one degree Celsius greater than the expected summertime maximum. Two DHWs are equivalent to two weeks at one degree above the expected summertime maximum OR one week of two degrees above the expected summertime maximum.
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Sea Surface Temperature layer is the mean night time tempreature of the Earth's oceans.
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Sea Surface Temperature Anomalie layer is useful in assessing ENSO (El Niņo-Southern Oscillation) development, monitoring hurricane "wake" cooling, and even major shifts in coastal upwelling.
For more detailed information on what these data layers are used for, check the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Methodology website.
To install the add-on, first download it from here and then run the installer. After launching World Wind there will be a new layer you can access from the Layer Manager. Clicking on the layer to display it will start the download of the latest image. World Wind should check every 12 hours and download the image but it does not hurt to refresh the layer by pressing "F5".
I have a request in for better legend placement, as it is now, the legend is attached to the globe and moves as you rotate around.
(Click the thumbnail image for a full scale image)