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The top of the reef

Coral reefs often extend from a sandy bottom to just beneath the water’s surface, forming broad reef flats. Barely a foot below the surface, the flats can be a harsh environment where corals are exposed to high wave action and intense solar radiation. Through a collaborative partnership with the new university KAUST in Saudi Arabia, WHOI scientists are studying unique Red Sea coral reef ecosystems, including how the effects of past and current climate change on reefs near the Saudi Arabian coast.
(Photo by Jessie Kneeland, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)