 WATER Coral Reef Watch at NOAA produces a weekly updated coral bleaching thermal stress 3 month forecast. In addition, they produce annual time series charts for a number of virtual stations including two closest to TARP: Brunei and Spratley islands. The South China Sea (SCS) current circulation is dominated by the winter and summer monsoons, the former blowing from the northeast, the latter from the south west (Qu). The SCS being a virtually enclosed basin except in the northeast, they set up a basically circular anti-clockwise current in winter and a clockwise one in the summer (moving past the west coast of Sabah in approximately the opposite direction to the prevailing wind). Some simple maps have been produced by Texas A&M University and Middlebury College. WEATHER Borneo is truly the "Land below the wind" as Agnes Keith wrote. A map of all typhoon tracks from 1945-2006 clearly attests to the fact. However, one tropical storm was recorded which did severe damage to the corals on either side of Sabah; its track from 1996 is unique. Rain and wind do occasionally accompany tropical storms further out in the South China Sea so it is useful to be able to see the latest map of tropical cyclone activity in our region. TIDES Practical issues like snorkelling depth, ability to clamber easily round an island and local currents are all affected by the height of the tide. A couple of forecasting sites (predictions differ slightly) are: Mobile Geographics with its monthly forecast table and a useful 48 hour visual indicator Malaysian Government weekly forecast table |
