CORAL-CORE: Biomineralization Dynamics & Reef Hydro-Acoustic Buffering — A Multi-Parameter Physico-Ecological Framework for Real-Time Analysis of Coral Reef Calcification, Wave Energy Dissipation, and Bio-Acoustic Reef Architecture

CORAL-CORE (Coral Organism Reef Analysis & Living – Calcification, Ocean, and Reef Ecology) presents a comprehensive physics-based framework integrating eight governing biophysical parameters to decode the engineering capacity of stony coral reefs: (1) Calcification Rate (G_ca), (2) Wave Energy Dissipation Coefficient (E_diss), (3) Zooxanthellae Quantum Yield (Φ_ps), (4) Skeletal Bulk Density (ρ_skel), (5) Ocean Acidification Lag Parameter (ΔpH), (6) Acoustic Reef Signature (S_reef), (7) Surface Roughness Index (k_s), and (8) Thermal Bleaching Threshold (T_thr).

Field data were collected across 14 reef systems spanning four Indo-Pacific and Atlantic provinces, including the Red Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Caribbean Arc, and Coral Triangle, validated against a 22-year dataset (2003–2025) combining underwater photogrammetry, acoustic hydrophone arrays, in-situ calcification micro-sensors, and Sentinel-2 sea surface temperature time series.

Key quantitative findings: calcification rate follows power-law saturation kinetics G = k(Ωa − 1)^n with field-validated exponent n = 1.67 ± 0.12; wave energy attenuation through healthy reef crests achieves up to 97% reduction in incident wave power; zooxanthellae quantum yield collapses from Φ_ps = 0.65 to below 0.15 within 48–72 hours of thermal bleaching onset; acoustic reef signatures exhibit species-specific spectral fingerprints in the 400–3,000 Hz range predictive of larval recruitment success (r² = 0.81, p < 0.001). The CORAL-CORE Reef Health Index (RHI) achieves 91.4% accuracy in predicting bleaching events 28–45 days before visible onset, enabling precision intervention windows for reef conservation management.

Repository: https://github.com/gitdeeper8/coralcore | Dashboard: https://coralcore.netlify.app | OSF Preregistration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VU246