Coral Reef Project

Cerulean damselfish dart around lettuce coral off the Cape Range National Park along the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia. USGS researchers combined forces with Australian colleagues in this UNESCO World Heritage Site to conduct the most extensive study of how erosion of reefs contribute sand to the beaches—a coast’s natural armor. With the threat of a rising sea and changes to the climate, understanding this connection can tell us how resilient the coast will be.

Coral reefs are unique ecosystems of plants, animals, and their associated geological framework. Coral reefs cover less than 0.5 percent of the earth's surface, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of all marine species. Second only to tropical rainforests in size and complexity, some scientists estimate that more than one million species of plants and animals are associated with coral reefs. Coral reefs are also of great economic importance to those who live on or visit islands in the Pacific Ocean. Reefs shelter and provide nursery grounds for many commercially and culturally important species of fish and invertebrates, they protect the islands' harbors, beaches, and shorelines from erosion and wave damage by storms, and they are vital to the Pacific's marine tourism industry. Globally, these diverse ecosystems may provide valuable goods and services worth about $375 billion each year to communities around the world. Yet, as important as coral reefs are, these ecosystems are being threatened worldwide.

More than 6,000 square miles (16,000 km²) of coral reef habitat falling under U.S. jurisdiction are found in the Pacific Ocean, constituting more than 90 percent of coral reefs found in U.S. waters (source: U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, March 2000). Most of these coral reefs still appear to be relatively healthy, but some areas of dead and dying coral have been found in recent years. The causes of this degradation are poorly known, but are probably in part related to human activities.

Photograph of waves breaking over the fringing coral reef that protects the shoreline of Waikīkī and infrastructure of Hawaiʻi's capital, Honolulu.
Credit: Brian Schmidt, licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), working closely with academic institutions, state, and other Federal agencies, is spearheading an effort to better understand the oceanographic and geologic controls on the structure and processes of our Nation's coral reef ecosystems.

This web site is a gateway to USGS studies of coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean and beyond. We focus on the processes that influence the health and sustainability of coral reefs. From this work we are gaining new insight into the structure of coral reefs, providing the basis for future monitoring, and understanding better both the influences of natural processes and impacts of human activities on coral reef health. These efforts will help to preserve and protect the biodiversity, health, and social and economic value of these remarkable habitats.

Read more coral reef facts.

Underwater photograph off Molokaʻi Hawaiʻi, showing some of the impacts of land-based pollution, such as terrestrial sediment, on coral reefs: burial by sediment, algal overgrowth, and coral bleaching.

Learn about our current studies by topic:

• Circulation and Sediment, Nutrient, Contaminant, and Larval Dynamics on Reefs
• Sea-Level Rise and Climate Change Impacts to Reefs
• Resilience and Recovery: Science for Future Reefs
• Mapping Coral Reefs

... and by location:

1. Guam
2. Hawai‛i
3. Kaho‛olawe
4. Kaua‛i
5. Kwajalein Island
6. Lāna‛i
7. Maui
8. Moloka‛i
9. O‛ahu
10. Roi-Namur Island
11. Tutuila