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Sea Surface Temperatures

animation of sea surface temperature

This animation is a composite of average weekly sea surface temperatures over the course of a year. Yellow and orange represent hotter waters and green, blue and purple represent progressively cooler waters. Broad scale, environmental processes can have long ranging effects on coral reefs, which are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. Studying trends on a global scale can help scientists understand why reefs in certain areas are flourishing and others are suffering.

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