Explorers map coral world

Expedition members pose with the Explorers Club flag: (l-r Front row) Paul Mockler, Larry Wood, Dr. Barbara Brunnick, Harvey Oyer, (Back row) Dr. Stefan Harzen, Jonathan Frey, and Joseph Frey. A recent expedition by members of the Explorers Club will change the way coral reefs will be mapped throughout the world.

It was serendipitous that the explorers were in the Bahamas where Christopher Columbus first discovered the Americas.

This event sparked Europe's exploration of our planet and initiated an era of modern cartography.

The expedition, entitled the "2008 International Coral Reef initiative: First Ever Precise Digital Coral Reef Mapping In The Bahamas and Wider Caribbean," will produce a unique, highly accurate biodiversity map of a coral reef, the first of its kind for the Caribbean region and possibly the first in the world.

The team worked around Tropical Storm Fay and raced to beat the storm cell over the mid- Atlantic Ocean that would develop into Hurricane Gustav. The August heat was intense as the team worked frantically gathering the vital pieces of information needed to complete the data- intensive map.

Brain coral on Peterson Cay reef. When completed in late October, the map will have integrated satellite and aerial photography with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies along with ground- truthing, which consists of collecting scientific data above and below the ocean's surface. These technologies have been used by civil engineers and land surveyors, but its use in conservation biology is new and very recent.

Various species of fish, algae, grass, and coral were identified along with their distribution patterns allowing the team to discern the various community types existing on the reef. The next step is to assess its biodiversity.

It took Dr. Barbara Brunnick of the Taras Oceanographic Foundation in Jupiter, Florida, almost a decade to develop the intricacies of this methodology. Together with her husband Dr. Stefan Harzen and Joseph Frey of Toronto, Canada, she led this historic Explorers Club expedition. Other Explorers Club members included Harvey Oyer of West Palm Beach and Jonathan Frey, a student member of the Club.

Elkhorn coral near the surface off Peterson's Cay, Grand Bahama, The Bahamas. This detailed map will provide great value for natural resource management and education. It will provide information against which possible changes in the future can be measured, monitored, and charted. It will also serve as an educational tool to provide a better understanding of the ecology of coral reefs. This map will be gifted to the government of the Bahamas and the Bahama National Trust who manage Peterson Cay National Park where the study was conducted.

The Explorers Club, founded in 1904, is the world's premier field science's organization, whose members were the first to the North and South Pole, to the top of Mount Everest, to the deepest part of the Earth's oceans, and first to the Moon. The local chapter of The Explorers Club meets monthly. For information, contact Nena Powell Rice (803-777-8170 or nrice@sc.edu).