The Changing Seas of the Florida Keys

The chain of lots of of low-lying islands, additionally known as cays or keys, that reach from southern Florida are relics of a time when international sea ranges have been increased than right now. About 125,000 years in the past, throughout a heat interglacial interval, water coated the realm.

Nonetheless, the ocean was shallow sufficient that massive communities of coral flourished just under the floor and constructed up reefs. As time handed and an ice age took maintain, sea ranges dropped and the tops of some reefs—in addition to some sand bars—started to poke above the water floor. Over time, materials from these uncovered reefs and sand bars hardened and fossilized, forming the sedimentary rocks that make up the trendy Florida Keys.

On March 30, 2022, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured these natural-color views of the islands. North and west of the island chain, gentle passing by means of shallow waters and reflecting off the ocean grass beds and sandy bottoms of Florida Bay offers this a part of the scene a green-yellow hue. The sunshine blue line south and east of the islands is a residing coral reef system—among the many largest on the planet. Deeper water past the sting of the Florida platform seems darkish blue.

Most of the Florida Keys fall throughout the boundaries of nationwide parks. Biscayne Nationwide Park consists of a number of of the northernmost keys. Most of these inside Florida Bay are a part of Everglades Nationwide Park. The westernmost keys fall inside Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park. The Florida Keys Nationwide Marine Sanctuary protects most of the keys as nicely.

Greater than 80,000 individuals reside on 30 populated islands, and a number of other million individuals go to the Florida Keys annually. Nonetheless, some components of Huge Pine Key and a number of other different islands retain patches of pine rockland, an uncommon ecosystem discovered solely in southern Florida. In these areas, scattered slash pine soars over an understory of palms, palmettos, berries, grasses, and a number of other sorts of herbaceous vegetation.

Whereas falling sea ranges introduced the Florida Keys into existence, rising seas now pose a menace to their long-term existence. Sea degree rise projections from the Interagency Sea Degree Rise State of affairs Software (revealed by NASA’s Sea Degree Change Group) point out that Key West may expertise between 0.45 and a couple of.16 meters (1 and seven ft) of sea degree rise by 2100.

NASA Earth Observatory pictures by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland.