Maldives - Raa Atoll
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - North (Haa Alif to Baa / Lhaviyani) and Maldives
More info
Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station) · Maldives ecoregion mean=2.9°C-heating weeksSite description
Setting
Raa Atoll is in the northern Maldives (5.60 N, 72.95 E).
Coral cover
No coral-cover value is attached to it.
Stressors
Satellite five-year mean annual maximum heat stress: 2.2 degree heating weeks at this site, against 2.9 across the surrounding ecoregion.
Comparisons with other data
Four long-term transects coded LGT1-LGT4 were surveyed repeatedly between 2007 and 2009, giving 28 records. Hard-coral cover across them averaged about 29%, varying by station: LGT1 and LGT2 ran in the mid-30s, while LGT4 sat near 14%. Annual means moved from 21% in 2007 to 36% in 2008 and 31% in 2009, consistent with recovery through that window. Bleaching was logged at those stations in all three years, affecting up to a third of colonies at LGT4 in 2007, and crown-of-thorns starfish appeared at trace levels (0.2%) at LGT1 in 2007 and 2008 - recorded at LGT stations 39 km off, not at this pin.
Dive record
The pin carries no photographs and no date - it is flagged as dived under Anderson's blanket rule of 11 August 2026, which is not a log- or photo-derived date.
Other notes
Blank fields in the source are non-records.
Independent surveys nearby
Within 5 km, 6 independent survey stations were surveyed in 2016, with hard coral cover ranging 8.7–76%. Per-year values are not available for these stations, so no trend is stated. Values above 70% are best-patch surveys, not site means.
Collected by other programs using different methods, so these are context for the figures above, not a like-for-like comparison. Where a station was surveyed more than once the range is shown. Station names are not dive-site names. Values marked best patch exceed 70%: surveyors usually chose the richest area, so they are not site means.
| Agency | Site / location | Date | Hard coral cover (%) | Distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coral Reef CPR | Huruvahli (Raa) | 2016 | 49% (37–76%) n=9 best patch | — | — |
| Coral Reef CPR | Villingili (Raa) | 2016 | 39% (27–48%) n=5 | — | — |
| Coral Reef CPR | Huruvahli lagoon (Raa) | 2016 | 62% (56–67%) n=2 | — | — |
| Coral Reef CPR | Huruvahli NW (Raa) | 2016 | 20% (14–33%) n=8 | — | — |
| Coral Reef CPR | Huruvahli SW (Raa) | 2016 | 20% (8.7–32%) n=12 | — | — |
| Coral Reef CPR | Villingili (Raa) | 2016 | 38% (32–41%) n=5 | — | — |
Data & links
© Coral Reef Diagnostics.