Maldives - Ari Atoll

Setting

Ari (Alifu) Atoll is one of the larger western atolls of the central Maldives (3.75 N, 72.83 E).

Coral cover

No photographs, coral-cover estimate, or written site account is attached, and no survey sits close enough to describe this reef.

Stressors

The 1997 value predates the 1998 mass-bleaching event that caused severe Maldivian coral mortality, and the archipelago was hit again in 2016 - both are archipelago-scale context, not observations here. Satellite five-year mean annual maximum heat stress for the cell is 2.2 degree heating weeks.

Comparisons with other data

Regional context from master_coral_cover.sqlite: four independent Reef Check surveys within 10 km, spanning 1997-2017, from 14.4% to 61.9% hard coral and averaging 37.3%. The nearest is Namnetti Tila, 6.63 km away, at 44.1% in 1997. At nearly 7 km, and with the closest record 28 years old, this is background for the surrounding area rather than a measure of this site.