Synopsis: 

The objectives of the project are to: 

1. "Advance research with the NOAA Coral Reef Watch 5km daily Degree Heating Week (DHW) data, updating and extending prior results for the Caribbean from 2014-2016. 

2. Analyze multi‐year datasets in more detail for the Florida Keys region, where the most complete coral bleaching observations are available from among Caribbean locations that provided in- water observations, to see how heat stress varies with bleaching observations for each year and across multiple years. This time series analysis will include linear regression and K‐means cluster analyses. 

3. Develop an understanding of how heat stress relates to repeated coral bleaching events across multiple years. (Preliminary analyses for the K‐means have shown the distribution of the DHW was noticeable around 5°Celsius and 67% bleaching. For observations where DHW values > 4°C‐weeks, coral bleaching was expected and confirmed by in‐situ bleaching observations.)