Schmidt Ocean Institute vessel embarks on coral research expedition off southwestern Australia

US-based Schmidt Ocean Institute has deployed the research vessel Falkor to an area filled with submarine canyons off southwestern Australia to study the effects of changing ocean dynamics on coral reefs.

The primary focus of the research will be to sample anticipated living and fossil deep-water corals from this region. The skeletons of these organisms will be used to reconstruct recent and long-term ocean environmental records to provide continuous records of important environmental variables, including fluctuations in the temperature of these deeper oceans, pH, nutrients, and dissolved calcium carbonate concentrations.

The data collected from these deep-water corals and their surrounding environments will allow scientists to develop an understanding of the physical and temporal changes occurring in the Southern Ocean.