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New NOAA website announcement


michaelg

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 02-126

CONTACT:  Patricia Viets, NOAA   (301) 457-5005

September 27, 2002

 

NOAA UNVEILS COMPREHENSIVE WEB SITE ON CORAL REEFS

 

A new Internet site designed as a single point of access for information on

coral

reefs is now online, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today.  The site, the Coral Reef

Information System, or CoRIS, provides data and information

derived from NOAA programs and projects. The site provides access to 19,000

aerial photos, 400 preview navigational

charts, tide stations, paleoclimatological studies, photo mosaics, coral

reef monitoring, bleaching reports,

and other information. Before CoRIS, users faced an array of more than 50

NOAA coral reef Web sites.

 

CoRIS, backed by powerful search engines, offers a Web-enabled,

GIS-enhanced,

state-of-the-art information system using a single Web portal to gain easy

access to NOAA’s coral reef resources. By

cataloging and indexing metadata summarizing the actual data holdings, CoRIS

easily guides the user to the desired data

and information. CoRIS supports NOAA’s activities on the National Coral Reef

Task Force and NOAA’s implementation of the National Action Plan to Conserve

Coral Reefs.

 

Corals are ancient animals that date back 400 million years. Over the past

25 million

years they have evolved into modern reef-building forms. Coral reefs are one

of the most diverse habitats in the

world and are considered the largest structures on Earth of biological

origin, rivaling old-growth forests in their

longevity. Reefs can be many hundreds of years old. Reefs provide important

protection for coastal communities from

storms, wave damage and erosion, as well as homes and nurseries for almost a

million species of plants, animals

and other organisms, including many that we rely on for food.

 

-more-

 

 

-2-

 

Corals are now a cross-cutting theme throughout NOAA, and the recent

“National Action

Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs”

calls on NOAA and its Coral Reef Task Force partners to reduce or eliminate

the most

destructive human-derived threats

to coral reefs. The plan describes nine long-range, far-reaching strategies

to address

these threats:

 

• Expand and strengthen the network of coral reef marine protected areas and

reserves;

• Reduce the adverse impacts of extractive uses such as overfishing;

• Reduce habitat destruction;

• Reduce pollution such as marine debris;

• Restore damaged reefs;

• Reduce global threats to reefs;

• Reduce impacts of international trade of coral reef resources;

• Improve interagency accountability and coordination; and

• Inform the public.

 

The Coral Reef Information System Web site (CoRIS) is located at:

http://www.coris.noaa.gov/

 

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety

through the

prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing

environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To

learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.

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