U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2011-3071 

May 2011

USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center– 

Research Activities in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Trunk Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Current Research Activities

The U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal 

and Marine Science Center in 

Florida investigates earth-science 

processes related to coastal and 

marine environments as well as 

to societal implications of natural 

hazards, resource sustainability, 

and environmental change. The 

Center is conducting ongoing 

research in and around the U.S. 

Virgin Islands that is providing 

baseline information for resource 

management and for assessing 

the health of and environmental 

changes to vital ecosystems such as 

coral reefs. In particular, projects 

are improving the understanding 

of coral health, advancing the 

ability to forecast future changes 

in coral reef ecosystems, and 

acquiring topographic data for use 

in inventorying, monitoring, and 

conserving coastal and marine 

environments. 

Printed on recycled paper
Assessing Effects of Ocean 

Acidification and Sea-Level Rise 

on Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are vital to the longterm viability of coastal societies, 

providing economic, recreational, 

and aesthetic value from which 

coastal communities thrive. They 

also provide structural protection 

to coastlines from high-energy sea 

states. Coral reefs develop over 

thousands of years as tropical 

marine organisms build skeletons 

of calcium-carbonate (CaCO3) to 

form a three-dimensional structure. 

This process of calcification can 

be impacted as ocean chemistry 

changes. With ever-increasing 

amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2

) 

entering the atmosphere, oceans 

are absorbing more and more CO2

. 

Part of this CO2

 becomes carbonic 

acid when it dissolves in seawater, 

lowering pH levels and increasing 

seawater acidity. Coupled with 

greater acidity is a rising sea level 

also due to increased CO2

 in the 

atmosphere. The rate of sea-level 

rise is expected to accelerate in the 

coming century. 

Under these changing conditions, 

USGS scientists are studying 

whether coral reefs will be able 

to grow at a rate fast enough to 

keep up with rising sea level and 

to sustain reef structure. They 

are also looking into whether 

the existing structure will begin 

to erode away as seawater 

acidity increases. Scientists are 

developing comprehensive records 

of historical and modern reef 

growth along with calcification 

rates relative to changing seawater 

chemistry in order to provide 

the scientific foundation for 

predicting future impacts of ocean 

acidification and sea-level rise on 

coral reef growth. 

The U.S. Virgin Islands present many unique habitats including complex coral-mangrove 

environments. Characterization of the coral species, the water chemistry, and the water 

circulation in this habitat may help in identifying areas resilient to climate change.

Modern seawater chemistry and growth rates of coral reef habitats are measured using 

a large (approximately 2.5 x 5 x 1.5 meters) seafloor incubation chamber, the Submersible 

Habitat for Analyzing Reef Quality (SHARQ). The SHARQ is also used for in situ experiments 

that measure growth rates of coral reef habitats subjected to levels of CO2

 predicted for the 

future. 
This mosaic image was created from lidar data acquired by the EAARL system during an overflight of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2003. The 

system first acquired surface topography and then submerged nearshore topography to create the high-resolution map. 

Acquiring High-Resolution 

Topographic Data for Resource 

Management 

High-resolution maps of 

topography, bathymetry, and 

shallow seafloor habitat show 

important features affected by 

coastal-management decisions. 

The mapped information serves as 

a baseline for evaluating resources 

and tracking the effectiveness 

of resource- and conservationmanagement decisions. Scientists 

at the St. Petersburg Coastal 

and Marine Science Center also 

use lidar (light detection and 

ranging) technology to show 

the topographic complexity of 

a barrier island or to monitor 

changes caused by extreme storms. 

One technology in particular, the 

Experimental Advanced Airborne 

Research Lidar (EAARL) system, 

is used to capture sub-aerial and 

submerged topography in the same 

overflight. Lidar data acquired in 

A Under natural lighting, both the knobby brain coral (Diploria clivosa) and the star coral (Montastraea faveolata) are tan or brown. When

stimulated to fluoresce with blue light B, ridges of the brain coral appear red and its valleys are green. The polyps of the star coral fluoresce 

green, punctuating a background of red. In both cases, chlorophyll and a green fluorescent protein are responsible for the red and green 

fluorescent emissions, respectively. Note the border zone between the two corals is dominated by a filamentous alga that fluoresces red due to 

its chlorophyll content. Ruler squares are 1 centimeter. The red box in A indicates the area shown in B . 
Contact Information:

Jack Kindinger

Director

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine 

Science Center

U.S. Geological Survey

St. Petersburg Science Center

600 4th Street South

St. Petersburg, FL 33701

PH: (727) 803–8747 x3002

FAX: (727) 803–2031

Email: jkindinger@usgs.gov

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/

collaboration with the National 

Park Service are being used to 

inventory and monitor marine 

benthic communities, barrier-island 

geomorphology, and vegetated 

habitats along coastlines. Scientists 

from the Center are scheduled to 

return to the U.S. Virgin Islands 

in 2012 to survey subaerial 

and submerged topography in 

collaboration with the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration’s National Ocean 

Service. 

Using Fluorescence to Diagnose 

Coral Diseases

Coral disease, one of the major 

causes of reef degradation and 

coral death, has been increasing 

worldwide since the 1970s, 

particularly in the Caribbean. 

Despite increased scientific study, 

simple questions about the extent of 

disease outbreaks and the causative 

agents remain unanswered. USGS 

scientists are working on better 

diagnostic techniques to detect 

onset of disease by using the 

fluorescent properties within 

corals. Chlorophyll, found 

in symbiotic algae called 

zooxanthellae, which are present in 

some coral species, has fluorescent 

properties that can be captured in 

three colors with a multispectral 

camera: green, orange, and 

red. Analyzing this natural

variability in fluorescence intensity 

for a given coral species, and the 

differences between diseased and 

healthy specimens, will enable the 

development of an index relating 

fluorescence to disease. The use 

of this diagnostic tool will provide 

researchers and resource managers 

with a rapid, non-invasive means to 

assess coral health. 

Characterizing Coral Disease 

Dynamics

Although many coral diseases or 

syndromes are currently being 

monitored, few causative agents 

have been identified. Furthermore, 

such pathogens have not been 

consistently observed in all 

corals exhibiting signs of disease. 

Research has indicated that 

coral diseases may be secondary 

opportunistic infections, rather 

than the result of primary 

This boulder star coral (Montastraea annularis) is affected by white plague. The white 

parts of the colony (black arrows) are dead. The disease has rapidly killed the coral, leaving 

bare white skeleton behind. The apparently healthy parts of the colony are indicated by red 

arrows. 

pathogens, making it important 

to understand the microbial shifts 

that occur from healthy to diseased 

corals. This project employed 

custom-designed microarrays to 

characterize two coral species 

at the microbial level. Disease 

mechanisms are being studied by 

comparing the microbial profiles 

of healthy and diseased corals at 

two sites: Dry Tortugas National 

Park in the Gulf of Mexico and 

U.S. Virgin Islands National Park 

in the Caribbean. This will allow 

an unprecedented comparison of 

microbial communities between 

healthy and diseased corals, 

between species of coral, and 

between geographic locations. 

The microarray data will provide 

a new baseline of information and 

may reveal previously unknown 

patterns underlying the coral 

diseased state.