Station upgrades: CMRC3 was outfitted with an additional in water Biospherical radiometer. Also, the above water radiometer was replaced and the second in water CTD was reinstalled. Finally, we moved the GPS antenna outside the case to improve GPS acquisition times. We think that shorter times may be necessary to prevent lost transmissions through GOES. So far, all instruments are reporting and we have no dropped transmissions.
Coral bleaching: We observed mild paling to full bleaching of select species of corals around the station and at neighboring N. Normans Reef. The Siderastrea siderea colonies had paling on sunlit surfaces and in blotched patterns. Agaricia sp. showed severe bleaching on some colonies, others - including the set that we are monitoring, looked unaffected. I saw no pattern to this.
Structural observations: The station had slightly more growth on it than we are accustomed to seeing but overall still appeared very clean. The BIC sensor head was perfectly clean. The PAM heads had slight algal growth covering them - this material was very easy to remove but did require pulling the PAM heads up into their mounts, cleaning, then repositioning. The worst growth was observed on the pCO2 instrument but did not appear to be affecting the inlet or outlets so we left it untouched.
Other observations: The usual suspects were observed near the stick: barracuda, a stingray, yellow rays.