water temperatures on the reef

[reef]

Intersting chart showing temperature on a reef in Fiji

My tank goes from say 79F in winter and 84F in summer.

[petplanet]

Interesting that it is tracking at the lower end of the temperature range for the last 10 years.

[Jettin]

Hmm, seems i better bump up my water temp, it sits at 25 degrees celcius. :-?

[cookie extreme]

The graph does not indicate at what depth! So it pretty useless if it is at one meter. I lived in Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa and Maldives.

The difference in temp in Tonga was 29 deg in summer and 22deg and less in winter at 12 meters. Almost all tropical places will have a drop in temp during the winter month unless you’re right at the equator. There day light hours or temp change very little

[reef]

Here is the data re the graph,

It does not say what depth

This highly accurate sea water temperature graph is derived from data gathered as part of a NAI'A special project with researchers at the University of the South Pacific. We set and monitor six temperature recorders throughout Fiji waters, accurate to 0.05 degrees Celsius, which measure the seawater temperature every hour.

You can use this temperature graph to decide which wetsuit(s) to bring to Fiji. Notice that the temperature can vary by about three degrees for a certain time of year, but the current year trend will give you a good idea of what to expect.

NAI'A crew, who dive here continuously, tend to wear thicker wetsuits than you might expect: 3-5mm in the summer and up to 6.5mm or even drysuits in the winter. But we're wimps! Make your own call, but if you get cold, don't say we didn't warn you!

For our humpback whale enthusiasts, Tonga in August and September is about 2 degrees cooler than Fiji at the same time.

[wasp]

Be interesting to know how coral growth is affected at the different times of year.

Also, as bleaching due to global warming is becoming an increasingly common occurance worldwide, be interesting to see how those temperatures would compare with say, 50 years ago, although we may never know.

[reef]

i would pick that corals grow faster in the summer as that is the experiance in my tank.

[davidb]

"The growth and subsidence of coral depends on a number of requirements: temperature, irradiance, calcium carbonate saturation, turbidity, sedimentation, salinity, pH and nutrients. These variables influence the physiological processes of photosynthesis and calcification as well as coral survival. Coral calcification rates and extension rates have been highly correlated with sea surface temperatures and to a lesser extent, incoming surface radiation."

"Coral growth can depend on both minimum and maximum seasonal temperatures. What is shown here is that, at least for Acropora branching corals, while growth can be approximated to a logarithmic function, particularly over several years growth, a rational polynomial function provides a more accurate model for growth."

"Over the period 2004-2007, involving several cycles of SST change, rate of growth of Acropora palmata is largely proportional to the change in SST. However, as temperatures approach those where bleaching can occur, i.e the maximum sustainable temperatures for coral growth, rates of growth can fall"

Crabbe, M.J.C (2007) Global warming and coral reefs: Modelling the effect of temperature on Acropora palmata colony growth. Computational biology anc chemistry. United Kingdom.

Oh and for those that don't know, SST's stand for Sea surface temperatures