For selected time windows, high-frequency analysis should identify westerly wind bursts. The experimental work will be carried out at the European Oceanographic Centre, Monaco in the first 4 months of this project in late 1997. Completion of the analysis and preparation of a publication will be carried out at CQU in the last 2 months. Most organisms within the class Anthozoa produce a calcareous skeleton. There is also evident of more complex calcification patterns in 2 genera of soft corals which, in addition, cement the bases of their colonies with a matrix of aragonite.
Soft corals are an important component of coral reefs.
On occasions they dominate the live cover of inshore reefs and they may be more tolerant to certain disturbances than hard corals. This study will provide the first measurements of calcification in this group of corals. The potential of soft coral skeletons for use as environmental recorders will also be assessed.