From a vision to impact: Allen Coral Atlas Impact Report 2021
January 27, 2022Happy New Year! What a year 2021 was for the Allen Coral Atlas. In May we released a beta version of the world’s first satellite-based bleaching monitoring system, designed to detect and track coral bleaching at high resolution. In April we launched a free 4-part mentored course called “Remote Sensing and Mapping for Coral Reef Conservation” in collaboration with the National Geographic Society and the Reef Resilience Network. And then in September we officially completed the first globally consistent benthic and geomorphic map of the world’s tropical coral reefs. This couldn’t have happened without the support of over 400 scientists and researchers who have collaborated with us on this monumental map and monitoring program. We are grateful for them and their continued support.
If you are reading this, you are a part of our ever-growing community, and we want to share and celebrate our successes with you. In our first ever Impact Report, we detail some impactful stories that users of the Atlas have shared with us. The report spans the last few years, highlighting key projects that are using the Atlas, our global outreach and capacity building efforts, and feedback received from our user community that we are working to address.
We still have a lot of work to do and continue to need your help to:
- Improve the bleaching monitoring system, for example, by offering any of your recent field data showing bleaching
- Contribute your local knowledge of reef habitat to support our remapping effort
- Share your success stories so others can benefit from your experience
We wish you a happy and healthy 2022!
“We're so stoked to hear about version 1.2 [maps] and I'm sure our colleagues in the Cooks are gonna be over the moon. Congratulations to you and the team, you guys made 2020-2021 look like a walk in the park
- John Kaitu'u, IUCN, Fiji