Coral Arks successfully deployed in open water off Vieques, Puerto Rico

In mid-November our team of scientists from NIWC (Navy), San Diego State, and Harvard headed to Puerto Rico to install the first Coral Reef Arks in open water. The Arks are floating structures—an 8’ diameter geodesic sphere—designed to house coral reef ecosystems in the water column, where the flow rate is high, light is plentiful, and the organisms are away from land-based pollution. Our test, a proof-of-principle, is to install two floating Arks, each at 25 feet depth, in 55 feet of water offshore.

The trip was a success and we installed both Arks and both control sites—corals placed on the seafloor at 25 feet. Success required six scientists, seven professional SCUBA divers, nine support personnel, and three boats, truly a team effort! We will be returning to the Arks every three months to collect samples and will add ARMS—foot squared structures seeded with healthy reef organisms—at the six-month point. This work will continue for the next two years and is supported by ESTCP, an environmental research program of the Department of Defense.

Ark 1—an 8’ diameter geodesic sphere—loaded up and ready for deployment.

Ark 1 deployed, suspended at 25 feet.

A close-up of Ark 1 with hard corals attached to plates on top. We will measure the growth of these corals to determine the extent to which environmental conditions on the Arks benefit their health and growth.

Ark 1 from below, tended to by a diver