Discovering the Past in Coral

The Selayar Islands protect Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi from the strong current that flows straight to the Takabonerate cluster.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

A diver swims alongside a coral reef on Tuesday (24/10) at the Bhayangkara dive spot in the waters off Barat Lembongan village in Selayar Islands regency, South Sulawesi. The dive spot has a wealth of marine biodiversity.

A massive Porites coral, standing over two meters tall, is a hunting sight for divers in the waters behind Tinabo Island Resort in Takabonerate National Park, Selayar, South Sulawesi. Despite the coral’s enormous size, the search for it takes one hour and was even almost called off.

In 2013, Intan Suci Nurhati, a paleoclimatology researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Oceanography Research Center, who studies primordial climates, took samples from the coral. The coral was part of five spots where samples were taken. Two were in Takabonerate atoll – the biggest atoll in Southeast Asia and the third biggest in the world – two spots were outside Takabonerate atoll and one spot was in the waters off Selayar Island.