Mapping A Coral Labyrinth
Channel: OceanX
Date: 2024-02-14

In the southern Red Sea, off the southwestern coast of Saudi Arabia, there's a labyrinth of islands, reefs, and atolls called the Farasan Banks. Jacques Cousteau described the area as the wildest of all reef complexes in the Red Sea. Within the Farasan Banks there are an estimated 6 million acres of submerged coral reefs and small islands, with an array of features, like lagoons and towering pinnacles that rise from hundreds of meters deep.

The area is a biodiversity hotspot, with a large number of endemic species.

During the Red Sea Decade Expedition, scientists from KAUST, working aboard OceanXplorer, set out to  characterize the Farasan Banks from the shallowest to the deepest point, with a particular interest in deep sea features, to understand how marine organisms interact with and affect their environment. 

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#RSDE #RedSea #coral