Using two decades of NASA satellite measurements stored in the cloud, scientists recently assessed the vulnerability of Belize’s renowned coral reefs to bleaching and collapse. The findings could help management authorities protect the reefs from human impacts such as development, overfishing, pollution, and climate change. In a study published in Frontiers in Remote Sensing, the scientists ranked 24 marine protected areas off the Belize coast based on the risks coral face from murky water and rising temperatures. The study also outlined how researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and counterparts in Belize used free, cloud-based data on Google Earth Engine in their analysis. “We depend on the reef for so many things, so conserving these resources is important … studies like this are giving the government of Belize more tools for conserving the resources that the country has.”