Carrie Bow Cay

Carrie Bow Cay Carrie Bow Cay is the field station for the Smithsonian's Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, CCRE

Carrie Bow Cay is located 14 miles offshore, directly on the barrier reef in Belize. The station is open to scientists year round and hosts about 100 visitors per year. Scientists have access to vessels, laboratory space, microscopes, SCUBA facilities, along with housing and meals. Research projects utilize nearby coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass habitats to investigate ecology, geology, biology

, and conservation. Please feel free to share thoughts about our posts, ask us questions, or tell us about your visit. We hope you’ll contribute to this interactive forum and to our ongoing conversation about the work we do to further the Smithsonian's mission to increase and diffuse knowledge. While on-topic discussion is encouraged, we ask that you express yourself in a civil manner and treat other users with respect. The Smithsonian also monitors may remove posts consistent with its terms of use, as described at http://si.edu/Termsofuse -gen. Be aware that facebook is a third-party website with its own terms of use and privacy policy. The Smithsonian does not control facebook’s collection, use, or dissemination of information. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, do not include any personally identifiable information that you do not wish to be made available to the general public. In addition, the Smithsonian may archive materials posted on this website pursuant to its document retention policies. By posting content, you are giving the Smithsonian and those authorized by the Smithsonian permission to use or modify it for any educational, promotional, or other standard museum purpose, in media of all kinds whether now known or later developed. Any data that users post on this site or that the Smithsonian collects from this site is subject to our terms of use and privacy policies which can be found at: http://www.si.edu/termsofuse/ and http://www.si.edu/privacy/. The Smithsonian also monitors posts on facebook consistent with its policy at http://si.edu/Termsofuse #/user-gen, and reserves the right to remove content in accordance with its Terms of Use.

Just in time for wrasse wednesday!!! Two blue and yellow beauties captured off CBC: Spanish hogfish (Bodianus rufus) and...
13/03/2025

Just in time for wrasse wednesday!!! Two blue and yellow beauties captured off CBC: Spanish hogfish (Bodianus rufus) and yellowhead wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti)

Quarterly servicing of our “MarineGeo” water quality and meteorological/oceanographic equipment. Instruments are inspect...
18/02/2025

Quarterly servicing of our “MarineGeo” water quality and meteorological/oceanographic equipment. Instruments are inspected, cleaned, sent for calibration, etc. At least every three months to keep data flowing from the island on basic oceanographic parameters.

Last of our “ocean travelers” survey, quantifying biota on trash, washed up on the beach. Scientist will use this inform...
18/02/2025

Last of our “ocean travelers” survey, quantifying biota on trash, washed up on the beach. Scientist will use this information to study the spread of various organisms as aided by floating and other ocean trash.

15/07/2024

see first comment for link

It’s world oceans day! Think about what you can do to support conserving the oceans
08/06/2024

It’s world oceans day! Think about what you can do to support conserving the oceans

04/06/2024

And here it is: bleaching Alert Level I for 🇧🇿🥵

01/06/2024

Today, June 1st, marks the start of the Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season.

𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙬𝙤 (2) 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 "𝙬𝙚𝙩" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙙𝙧𝙮" 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮. 𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝘽𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙣 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙅𝙪𝙣ᴇ 1ꜱᴛ 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 30ᴛʜ 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 10𝙩𝙝.

Please take a look at the excerpt below from NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) on this year's Seasonal Hurricane Outlook.

You can read the entire the article at:

https://www.noaa.gov/.../noaa-predicts-above-normal-2024...
Regional tropical outlooks, local weather forecasts and climatological outlooks, etc., are also available on the National Meteorological Service of Belize's website: https://nms.gov.bz/
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"𝗡𝗢𝗔𝗔 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲-𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻"
La Nina and warmer-than-average ocean temperatures are major drivers of tropical activity

"NOAA National Weather Service forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center predict above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, predicts an 85% chance of an above-normal season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season and a 5% chance of a below-normal season.

NOAA is forecasting a range of 17 to 25 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 8 to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 4 to 7 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher). Forecasters have a 70% confidence in these ranges.

The upcoming Atlantic hurricane season is expected to have above-normal activity due to a confluence of factors, including near-record warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, development of La Nina conditions in the Pacific, reduced Atlantic trade winds and less wind shear, all of which tend to favor tropical storm formation."

"As one of the strongest El Ninos ever observed nears its end, NOAA scientists predict a quick transition to La Nina conditions, which are conducive to Atlantic hurricane activity because La Nina tends to lessen wind shear in the tropics. At the same time, abundant oceanic heat content in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea creates more energy to fuel storm development.
This hurricane season also features the potential for an above-normal west African monsoon, which can produce African easterly waves that seed some of the strongest and longer-lived Atlantic storms. Finally, light trade winds allow hurricanes to grow in strength without the disruption of strong wind shear, and also minimize ocean cooling. Human-caused climate change is warming our ocean globally and in the Atlantic basin, and melting ice on land, leading to sea level rise, which increases the risk of storm surge. Sea level rise represents a clear human influence on the damage potential from a given hurricane."
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What’s going on this weekend?? Little green Heron wants to know (Butorides virescens)
01/06/2024

What’s going on this weekend?? Little green Heron wants to know (Butorides virescens)

Throwback Thursday! Your curator, Gary Peresta, is retiring and found some old pictures (sorry dont have a color scanner...
22/02/2024

Throwback Thursday! Your curator, Gary Peresta, is retiring and found some old pictures (sorry dont have a color scanner). Upper left, boat moored to tree, probably 1999 or so. Lower right (and island pics) look to be from 1995!

13/02/2024

The Spanish Shawl is always dressed to gill!

This showy sea slug is ready to celebrate in style with its flamboyant and festive fringe!

But it isn't just for show - this queen is crowned with a set of stinging cells. See more on the blog: https://ow.ly/tF6o50QAFzT

Queen triggerfish Balistes vetula, off Carrie Bow 2016. Anecdotally, seems like there are a whole lot less around in the...
13/02/2024

Queen triggerfish Balistes vetula, off Carrie Bow 2016. Anecdotally, seems like there are a whole lot less around in the shallows around the island lately. Thoughts?

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