2024 Volume 80 Issue 17 Article ID: 24-17211
We developed a double-nested downscaling oceanic circulation model with wave-current interaction coupled with a coral polyp model, that models photosynthesis, respiration, and calcification processes in coral reef ecosystem, for analyzing the impact of 11 typhoons that passed through in 2011 and 2012 on the flow field and coral reef habitat in reef areas on the coast of Okinawa main island, Japan. Bottom shear stress during typhoons in 2012, the year in which the overall coral reef coverage decline occurred, was greater than that caused by typhoons in 2011, suggesting that strong waves and currents caused by typhoons have contributed to the destruction and detachment of the coral reefs. The photosynthetic rate, respiration rate, and calcification rate of the coral reef ecosystem after the typhoon season were also weaker in 2012 than in 2011, suggesting that the habitat environment have been more severe for the coral reef ecosystem than the previous year.
