Welcome to the CORAMM website

What is CORAMM?

The Coral Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Modelling (CORAMM) project is aimed at improving the understanding of the impacts of high suspended sediment loads on cold water coral communities. The project is multidisciplinary in approach, with sedimentologists, biologists, modellers and representatives from marine industry all involved in furthering the current understanding of these novel ecosystems.

The CORAMM project is being conducted by the International Research Consortium on Continental Margins (IRCCM), and is being funded by the Norwegian company, Statoil. The project will further develop the 'coral reef' work package of the Hotspot Ecosystem on the Margins of European Seas (HERMES) consortium, and supply HERMES with further outreach and educational opportunities. CORAMM is coordinated by Jacobs University Bremen.

Photo credits: 1. T. Lundalv, Tjarno Marine Biological Laboratory. 2. Statoil. 3. D. Berov, IUB.

Cold water corals

Cold water coral reefs are relatively understudied ecosystems, found in recent years at various depths in many areas of the world ocean. Potentially these reefs are important fish nurseries for commercial fish and their preservation is therefore of economic, as well as environmental concern.

Lophelia pertusa, the most common reef-forming coral in european waters can be seen live on the Tjarno Marine Biological Laboratory (TMBL)webcam at:- http://130.241.163.109/view/index.shtml.

Damage to cold water coral reefs

In recent years damage has been done to many reefs by trawling, and legislation to protect reefs varies in vigor from country to country. Reefs have been found in areas of the Norwegian shelf and elsewhere of interest to the petrochemical industry. It is an aim of the CORAMM project to assess the potential impact risk that the elevated sedimentation rates associated with petrochemical extraction might have on cold water coral reef communities. The CORAMM project will also develop strategies to negate the potential impact of the offshore industry.

Project overview

The CORAMM project will combine in-situ and laboratory data on cold water coral behaviour with lab determined sedimentation data to determine the potential impact of elevated sedimentation of cold water coral reef communities. From these findings new models of cold water coral reef behaviour will be developed, and these models used in developing risk analysis tools that can be applied in various situations.

Dive with the IFM-Geomar submersible to investigate particle distribution across the Rost Reef, Norway. (Image: A Purser, Jacobs University)

The CORAMM project is one of those managed by the International Research Consortium on Continental Margins (IRCCM), and as such brings together experts from several institutes and fields. Institutes and organisations directly involved with the project are:-

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.
Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Germany.
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO), Netherlands.
Statoil, Norway.

A selection of links to relevant organisations are given below:-

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a.purser@jacobs-university.de
IRCCM is not responsible for the content of external links

Web design: A. Purser (a.purser@jacobs-university.de)